Penpals
by SloaneKato
Summary: Roxas has been sending letters to a guy he's never met since he was twelve. Turns out, the world really is that small. Slight RokuShi, akuroku later on. Soriku chillin' in there too like always. Rated M for language and future whatevers.
1. The Man Behind The Letters

My name is Roxas Richards. I'm eighteen, going on nineteen, and live a pretty normal life as a aimless middle-class teenager. I live with my parents and twin brother, Sora in a town called Twilight Town.  
>When I was twelve, my parents got me and my brother, Sora, into a penpal program. We were both given the names of a boy in our age group from another town. And, well, I guess I never really got bored with it. It's fun to write letters to someone who lives a different life.<br>Over the years, we grew to be very close with our penpals, me and Sora. Hell, Sora even met his.  
>Yeah, I know, sounds like it could be dangerous, right? What if our penpal is some crazed rapist murderer? Well, Sora's wasn't.<br>Sora's penpal was a boy a year or two older than him. His name was Riku Jones...we don't get along too well. But Sora likes him, so I deal.  
>My penpal? Well...we never met. All I have is a name and an address. His name is Axel Ethon, and he's from Radiant Garden.<br>Radiant Garden isn't too far away...but I've never been there. I've only been to a few places: Destiny Island, and Traverse Town. I know, lame. The worst part? We went by plane. Oh well.

"Hey, Rox! You got a letter from Axel!"  
>Roxas looked up from his book with a smile. He loved it when he got letters. He took the thick letter from his twin, eagerly ripping it open.<br>_"Dear Roxas,  
>I'M ON A BOAT, BITCHES!<br>Uhh, yeah, I'm not sure how this happened, but my buddy Demyx decided I was going fishing with him. Yeah, I don't know. He's weird.  
>Anywho, that's pretty cool that your brother met his penpal. Didn't know it was Riku, either. I <em>_know that guy. xD He's my, uh, how do I say this?  
>Riku's my ex-neighbor, ex-roomate, and an old buddy of mine. Guess I didn't know him so well if I didn't know about him being penpals with your brother...I'd been wondering where that kid disappeared to. Heh. Oh well.<br>I haven't really been doing much. Just kicking back and playing my guitar, messin' with Demyx's stuff, you know. The usual.  
>Hey, you know what? We've never so much as exchanged pictures. Weeeeiiiirrrd. So yeah, I'll enclose a few pictures. I'm the red haired sexy one, by the way. And yes, it is totally natural.<br>Much love,  
>Axel Ethons.<br>P.S. Demyx said he's going to be going to Twilight Town to visit his cousins on the 18th, so I'm gunna bum a ride off him. So uh, if you wanna hang, or whatever, hit me up! My number is on the back of one of the pictures, kay? Or if you don't, that's chill. Anyways, write me back, lover-boy!"_

Roxas grinned. Axel was coming to Twilight Town! He looked up to see Sora raising an eyebrow at him. He shook his head at Sora and pulled out the extra.

The first picture was of a tall, lanky red head standing on top of a rather large looking rock, the sun setting behind him, striking a super-hero pose. The next one was him and two other guys, one with a blond mo-hawk mullet thing, and the other being... Riku. All three were in Captain Morgan stance, grinning like fools.

And the last picture, Roxas noted, was a candid shot. It was a picture of the red-head with his guitar case on his back, looking to the side. He was dressed in an open black jacket and black jeans with red suspenders hanging down. Beneath the jacket was a torn up red shirt, revealing pale yet olive skin.

To say the least, Roxas was blown away. Axel was downright _sexy_. It kind of made Roxas feel inferior, since the most he could get was 'cute.' He flipped the picture over, and found a phone number scrawled on the back.

"Let's see...well, I guess I ought to call today since the eighteenth is tomorrow, huh?" Roxas asked himself out loud. "Here goes nothing..."

On the third ring, he picked up. "Hello?" Came the groggy sounding response.

"Oh god, I didn't think you'd be sleeping, oh my god, Axel, I'm so sorry-"

"Who the fuck is this?"

Roxas blinked. "Oh, uh," he coughed. "This is uh, Roxas..."

"Oh! Hey buddy! I was wondering if you'd call."

"I, uh, I'm sorry I woke you up..."

"Don't worry bout it. It's kinda late to be sleeping anyways...heh, you sound like a little kid," he said, chuckling.

_And you sound like a sex god, _Roxas retorted in his head. "I do not! Jerk."

"Hey, I was just kidding! Don't take it so seriously..." Axel said, and sighed. "So, uh, I'll be there in...six hours, according to Demyx. I have no idea why we're going to get there at eleven tonight, since it's only two hours away, but whatever. The guy is weird."

Roxas laughed a little. "Well, you wanna meet up somewhere tomorrow, Axel?"

"Sure, buddy. Demyx and I are staying at..." Axel paused. "31 Wicker Avenue...you know where that is?"

Roxas paused.

"Rox? You still there?"

"Uh, yeah, it's just that..."

"What?"

"What'd you say your friend's name was?"

"Demyx."

Roxas swallowed. "Demyx Ackerfield?"

"Uh...yeah? You know 'im?"

"Shit."

"Rox?"

"DAMN IT SORA, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME DEMYX WAS COMING?"

"Sorry, guess it slipped my mind..." Sora called from down the hallway.

Roxas grumbled something unintelligible and went back to the phone. "Uh, sorry about that...Demyx is my... cousin."

"No shit?"

"No shit."

"Damnnnnnn. Guess I'll see you when I get there, eh, cutie?"

"I. Am. Not. Cute." Roxas growled.

Axel chuckled. "I wouldn't know, I haven't seen you before...but your voice tells me you're cute and cuddly. Like a kitten."

"Fuck no," Roxas said, frowning.

"You got picturemail on your phone?"

Roxas squinted in thought. "Uh, yeah, why?"

"Then prove you're not cute, and I won't call you cutie anymore, got it Roxy?"

Roxas sighed. "Fine. I guess I'll uh, see you tonight?"

"Yeah! Send me that picture."

"Whatever," Roxas groaned. "Bye."

Roxas sighed, ending the call and pulling up his pictures. He scrolled through and selected a picture of him that Sora took when he stole Roxas's phone. His blond hair was spiked to perfection, his head tilted towards the sky, arms spread. He was in a long-sleeved ripped up black shirt with a white one showing underneath and black jeans weighed down by chains. He looked...reasonably sexy in that picture. Sora had always been pretty good at taking pictures. Roxas had always been good at getting his picture taken.

Roxas smirked, typing out _"I'm not cute, see?" _in the message before sending it to Axel's phone.

His phone buzzed a few minutes later. _**Damn, you're pretty, Roxy. You sure you're a guy?**_

_ Yeah, pretty sure I'd know the difference._

_**I dunno. Demyx can't.**_

___That's because he's a dumb ass. You can check tonight if you don't believe me._

_**Oh bby. **_

___Whatever, perv._

_**You know you love me. Demyx says hi.**_

___Fuck that shit. Tell Demyx that there's no sugar in Twilight Town._

_**...Demyx just ran out of the room crying hysterically. Should I be worried?**_

___Nah. He'll get over it._

_**...why did I never think of this before? God, Roxy, you're a genius. **_

___I know. :]_

"Roxas, Sora, Demyx is here!"

Roxas shot out of bed, scrambling down the hall and sliding down the railing of the stairs, much to his mother's dismay. Sora was right behind him.

"DEMYX!" Sora screeched, as soon as he saw the dirty blond haired man. The brunette threw himself at him, and Demyx crashed into the wall with a thud and a girlish squeak.

"Nice boxers, bro," Sora said after he finished his attack on their cousin.

Roxas looked down. "Aw, shit," he muttered, looking down at his rainbow boxers. He shrugged. Too late now.

"Ohhhh my god, oh my god... Roxas, pleaaaseee tell me you weren't serious about the sugar thing earlier!" Demyx said, shaking.

Roxas blinked, and looked at his cousin. "Oh, I was completely serious, Demyx."

Demyx let out a high-pitched sob.

"Chill out, Demyx, you can survive without sugar for two weeks," a voice said from behind Roxas, causing the blond haired boy to jump in surprise.

"A—Axel!"

"Wow, Roxy. You're really short."

"I'm not short!"

"Ugh, hate to break it to you buddy, but you and Sora are both kinda like midgets," Demyx said, cringing as Sora and Roxas both glared at him.

"Okay, okay, boys. I'm sure our guests are tired, so let's figure out how this is going to work..." Sora and Roxas's mother, Yuna said. She turned to Demyx. "Well, since you and Sora get along, and he's less likely to torture you than Roxas is, go ahead and sleep in his room," she said, shooting Sora a look. She turned to Roxas. "Roxas, Axel is going to sleep in your room, okay? Try to be nice to him for me."

"Yes ma'am," Roxas and Sora said in unison, Sora saluting and Roxas yawning.

"C'mon, Ax, let's get you settled in..." Roxas said, grabbing Axel's hand as he sleepily led the taller man up the stairs.

"Hey Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm diggin' the boxers."

Roxas yawned and grunted something unintelligible. He shoved the door to his room open with one hand, the other still holding Axel's as he led him into the room and collapsed on the bed, pulling the taller man down with him.

"Er, Rox?"

"hnggrg."

"Um...can I have my hand back?"

Roxas's eyes opened and he released the hand in his own, before he groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

"God, you sound like you're hungover or something, Rox."

"Mrrggg."

Axel sighed, and rolled over so he faced away from Roxas.

The first thing he noticed was the warmth. The second thing he noticed was the rhythmic movement of his pillow. Roxas opened his eyes slowly, noticing that he was, in fact, pressed into someone's t-shirt clad chest.

"Why're you in my bed, Sor?" Roxas mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He glanced back at the sleeping figure. "Oh shit! What did I do last night?" He groaned, rather loudly.

Green eyes opened slowly as the person Roxas soon realized was Axel woke up. "Rox?"

"What?"

Axel smiled sleepily. "I like waking up next to you," he said, wrapping his arms around the blond boy as he pulled them back to bed. "Stay with me a while..."

"Uh, okay..."

"DEMYX, QUIT KICKING ME!"

"GET OUT OF MY BED!"

"YOU'RE IN MY BED, DAMMIT!"

Axel sighed. "What a rude awakening..."

"Classic Sora..."

"Classic Demyx..."

"I really don't know how anyone could sleep next to Demyx."

"They don't. He just kicks them unconscious."

Roxas laughed. "You're probably right," he said, grinning.

"I feel sorry for whoever ends up marrying that guy."

Roxas frowned. "Demyx is gay."

"Yeah, so are you."

Roxas's frown grew. "You don't know that," he said.

"Rainbow boxers? Kinda obvious."

"Tell that to my girlfriend."

Axel blinked. "Didn't I say you were a girl?"

Roxas full out scowled. "You really want to go there, firecrotch?"

Axel grinned, and suddenly Roxas was reminded of the chesire cat. "Sorry dude, I don't fly that way."

"Roxassssss!" Sora called from outside the door. "Are you up yet?"

Roxas looked at Axel and let out a girlish moan.

"Ohhh kay then. I'll, uh, come back later..." Sora said, sounding rather disturbed. "Didn't really need to hear that..."

Roxas snickered, not noticing the raised eyebrow Axel was giving him. He jumped out of bed and pulled open his dresser drawer, pulling out a pair of ripped up hot-pink skinny jeans and putting them on. He glanced over at Axel. "The door across from you is a bathroom, go ahead and take a shower if you need to." With that, Roxas tore off his shirt, replacing it with a black shirt that said 'heartless' in big red letters.

Axel blinked and muttered a thanks before pulling out a few things from his suitcase and closing himself in the bathroom.

A/N: So yeah, first chapter. I've already got the second chapter written up, though I may want to divide it as it's currently 14 pages and I'm not done with it. (pretty sure I left off in the middle of a word.)


	2. Enter Rival

_ I'm not sure how to feel about Axel. I've been writing him letters for what feels like my entire life, but I barely know him. I didn't know what he looked or sounded like until yesterday; and here he was, in my house. In my room. _

_ It's a little strange, but... It's not, at the same time._

_ Though... I really wish he'd quit implying that I was gay. For one, I'm pretty damn sure Axel's straight- guys who're __**that**__ hot usually are. For two, I have a __**girl**__friend. I guess I've never mentioned her, have I? Her name is Xion. She's been my best friend since day one-she lives right next door to me, after all. She's a week younger than me, as well. We used to have our birthday party together, me, Sora, and her. _

_ People used to think we were triplets when we went somewhere, because we were all attached at the hip, finishing each other's sentences. Then Sora met Kairi, and he stopped hanging out with us so much._

_ ._. ._. ._. _

Roxas groaned as he heard the loud buzz of his phone vibrating somewhere in the room and ran around frantically trying to find the cursed thing.

"Hello?" Roxas answered, having found it-where else,-in his closet.

"Hey Roxas!"

"Good morning, Xion," Roxas said into the phone, grinning at the opposite side of his closet. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go somewhere after I got off work? I have this weird urge to go swimming all of the sudden," she said. Roxas could picture her expression, the way she would have one eyebrow turned up.

Roxas grinned. "Sure, hun. It's supposed to be really nice today, so we could go to the lake if you want. I'll swing by the cafe at-"

"Roxy, come out of the closet, we all know you're gay."

"Roxas, who was that?"

"Sorry, Xi, my cousin Demyx is visiting, and he brought Axel with him," Roxas said, flipping Axel the bird as he stuck his tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes. "He's been making gay jokes since he got here. I should definitely have burned the rainbow boxers you and Nami got me."

"You actually wear those? Oh my god, Rox, you don't have to!" Xion was giggling now, and he could picture her as she wiped at her eyes, which always teared up when she laughed.

Roxas grinned. "Well, unlike_ some _people, I actually wear the things people give me," he said, as he chucked a shoe at Axel, who was prancing around his room with Demyx, both boys wearing their pants on their heads. He didn't even question why Demyx was in his room now.

"Well, sorry, I didn't know you wanted me to be a dyke, Roxas. Is there something you're hiding from me? Hmmmmm?"

"That shirt just says that you _like_ lesbians. Not that you are one. I mean, I wear mine all the time."

Xion muttered something, and then sighed. "I gotta go to work, Rox. I love you," she said.

"I love you too, Xion. I'll see you at one."

"Bye," she said, before hanging up.

Roxas closed his phone, and stood up out of the closet, brushing off his bright pink pants. Axel and Demyx were still at it, and now Sora had joined in, wearing a coconut bra with his spiderman boxers, a pair of red jeans on his head.

Roxas shook his head and walked out of his room-turned-dance-floor.

._. ._. ._.

"Hey, Rox, you wanna take Axel here and show him the town?"

"Um, sure, Demyx," he said, wincing. "That is, assuming he doesn't mind being the third wheel for a while." Roxas glanced over at the red head, who was staring intently at his lighter.

"As long as we go somewhere I can smoke, I don't care," came his response.

Roxas nodded, and gestured for him to follow him. "Uh, we're going swimming, so you might wanna..."

"I don't swim, so no need for swim trunks."

"Oh, okay...you sure you wanna go? I mean, I'm sure Sora wouldn't mind-"

"Sorry, Rox, I gotta date," Sora said, shrugging.

Roxas shrugged, and made his way out the door. Axel followed him, breathing a sigh of relief.

"As much as I love your cousin, he really pisses me off," he muttered, pinching his nose as they walked.

"Me and Demyx never were very close for that very reason," Roxas said, crossing the street and slipping into a small cafe.

"Sorry, we're closing," a girl said.

"It's me," Roxas said, as he took a rag out of the bucket next to the woman and moved to another table. It wasn't quite one, but the cafe closed at twelve-thirty. "How've you been, Yuffie?"

"I've been doing great, how about you?"

"Doing pretty good myself," he replied. "My cousin Demyx-you remember him, right?-just came from Radiant Garden."

"Oh my god, Demyx is in town? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Yuffie asked, chucking straws at Roxas.

Roxas chuckled, dodging a few. "He got in pretty late last night, I was already in bed when they got here," he said.

"They?"

Roxas pointed at the red-head who was looking completely lost.

"Oh, hi there, handsome! You must be really good at camouflage, I didn't even notice you there!"

Axel rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, sure? I'm Axel. Commit it to memory."

Yuffie grinned. "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, proud owner of this here establishment and world renown ninja! Oh, and uh, I'm Xion's mom, but that's not important."

"Hey, are you saying I'm not important?" Xion called from the kitchen door. She pouted, her midnight blue eyes shining.

Yuffie seemed to melt a little. "Of course not, honey, you're important... I need you for dish washing...and so Roxas brings me hot young men, of course."

"Mom," Xion groaned. "You're probably the reason Roxas is the _only_ guy friend I have..."

Yuffie blinked, and turned back to Axel. "Whoa, you have like...the greenest eyes ever. Does Crayola even make that color? That would be a bad ass crayon, and-"

Shouts of "Mom!" and "Yuffie!" were heard, but ignored, until Axel was being dragged away by a flustered Roxas and Xion.

"NOOOOOOO! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE!" Yuffie shouted, dropping to her knees dramatically.

Xion and Roxas shook their heads, leaving the spunky ninja to pretend-weep on the floor of her cafe. Axel was being dragged by the pair, one adorning each arm.

Needless to say, Axel felt like a pimp when he walked down the sidewalk, an arm around the shoulders of each eighteen year old.

Roxas was first to shrug him off, rolling his indigo eyes at the taller man as he shoved Axel's arm off his woman and wrapped his hand around her much smaller one. Axel rolled his own eyes at him in response, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, popping one into his mouth and slipping it back into his pocket, taking out a silver lighter with a flame on it and lighting the stick.

._. ._. ._.

When they arrived at the lake, the most Axel could do was stare as Xion ripped off her clothing in the middle of the street, Roxas mimicking her, and the pair ran off screaming and giggling and chasing each other like school kids during recess. When they finally reached the water, Xion ruthlessly shoved the blond boy into the water, causing a large splash as he fell off the rock he'd just been king of five feet ago.

Roxas emerged and laughed, splashing Xion with some water. She stood up from her squatting position on the rock he'd previously claimed as his kingdom, and jumped in, belly flopping a few feet from him. She rose to the surface, sputtering and squealing of the cold as she removed soaked coal hair from her face.

Axel sat on the beach, as far away from the water as he could get, and took a deep drag on his cancer-stick, eyes narrowed as he watched the couple. _She's not that pretty, _he thought to himself. _Her body is okay, but her face is kind of... boyish. I don't know what Roxas sees in her._

Xion glanced out of the corner of her eyes, catching the bright green of his, and smiled.

Axel flinched. He didn't know why, but something about that smile just...wasn't right. He'd ask Roxas about it later, he decided.

._. ._. ._.

"Roxas...how long have you known Xion?"

"All my life, why?"

"Well, earlier, I noticed that when she smiles, her eyes aren't with it," Axel said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"She just... she's awkward around people she doesn't know."

Axel nodded, glancing to the side. They were sitting on the roof of Roxas's building, eating sea-salt ice creams, watching the sun set. Axel squinted at the distance. "Hey...Rox?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever been up on that tower over there?"

"Uh, no? Why?"

"I think I have before."

"You've been to Twilight Town before?"

Axel hesitated. "I never told you? I come here at least once a year."

"And you never came to visit me?"

Axel looked away. "I'm only ever here for a night. Then I'm usually off to another town. Part of being like me and Demyx, I guess."

"What do you mean by that?"

He glanced over at the blond, meeting the blue eyes with his green ones. "Roxas, me and Demyx? We're band mates. We do tours. How did you not know that?"

Roxas stared at him. "I don't know. What's your band called?"

"Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"You're wearing the band shirt."

Roxas gaped at him for a good minute. "I-wha-re-" he said intelligently.

"Eat your ice cream, it's melting."

Roxas clamped his jaw shut and looked back at his ice cream. He stared at it for a second, took a bite, and then glanced from his 'Heartless' shirt to Axel. "So you're-"

"Yes, god damn. Don't you pay attention to these kinds of things?"

"Well I knew their singer was named Axel but I didn't know-"

"That he was a total sex god under those masks?"

Roxas nodded.

Axel, for lack of better terminology, busted out laughing. "You are _so_ gay, Roxy. Worst case of denial ever."

"Hey! I'm not gay!" Roxas shouted, smacking Axel upside the head.

Axel smirked at him, and shook his head. "There's just no way you're straight, I'm sorry."

"Well I'm pretty sure I'm not a man, Axel," came the reply from Xion, who sat down on Roxas's other side. "And trust me, Roxas is definitely male."

Axel stared at the girl. "So, how often do you guys...yah know..."

"Have sex?" Xion suggested.

Roxas pinched the bridge of his nose, before raising both hands to smack the two simultaneously upside the head. "Axel, that's none of your business. Xion, don't tell him, I don't _care_ how much he pays you, he doesn't need to know."

Axel let out a frustrated whine. "But Roxy, I know how often Demyx gets laid," he said.

Roxas snorted. "Yeah, you're probably the one fucking him, aren't you?"

"Wha- No, Roxas. I don't like Demyx that way."

They heard the distinctive sound of Demyx sneezing come from the house.

"Roxas, don't be mean to Axel," Xion said, pouting. "If you're mean to him, he won't come back. You don't want that, do you? I know mom would absolutely hate that."

"Yuffie would just hide in his luggage," Roxas said, shaking his head. "It wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't currently in his suitcase."

Xion giggled. "You're right, she'd be all 'I am the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi,' and hit him over the head with a coin-filled sock."

"Your mom scares me," Axel muttered.

"Your not the only one," Roxas and Xion groaned. Xion sighed and got up, saying something about a tv show and Yuffie breaking tables before leaving the boys alone, once again.

Axel studied the blond, green eyes narrowed. "You know what's weird?"

"Sora's hair?"

Axel shook his head. "You, Xion, and Sora all look kinda alike, you know?"

"Well... Sora is my brother, so naturally we look a like...as for Xion, we're not sure why she looks like Sora. She just does."

"That doesn't weird you out a little, that your girlfriend looks like your brother?"

"Hmm. No, not really. I mean, we grew up next door to each other, so we never really see the resemblance, but people who don't know better usually assume we're all related."

Axel sighed. "It's still really weird. By the way, does Xion have a dad?"

Roxas shook his head. "Yuffie never knew who the father was- she used to drink a lot. I mean, she still does on occasion, but she's not as bad as she used to be, I guess."

"What about you?"

Roxas looked away. "We don't talk about him anymore."

"Oh," was all Axel said, before rubbing the blond's back in what he hoped was a soothing manner. "Sorry, Rox. Didn't mean to strike a sore spot."

"It's fine," Roxas said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "Sora could tell you, mom could tell you, hell, Xion could tell you, but... I... it still hurts to talk about."

"Well... if you ever need to talk, you know what to do."

"Go bother Xion or Olette, unless it's about either of them, then I go to Hayner or Pence."

Axel pouted. "I meant you could talk to me, Roxy."

Roxas glanced over at the red head, smiling. "Why would I want to do that?" He asked before standing up and dusting his pink skinny jeans off. "Anyways, I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed... don't do anything Demyx would do, got it?"

Axel nodded, and watched the sunset, unlit cigarette hanging from his lips.


	3. This Chapter Is On Something

._. ._. ._.

_ We lived with my dad until I was fourteen. On the outside, we were a perfect family of five. My mom and dad were deeply in love, my brothers and I all got along well, and our house was well kept. _

_ But on the inside, our foundation was crumbling. Dad slept around, but we didn't know that until he started... sleeping with us. I was ten when it started, fourteen when it stopped. Sora was never touched, just...me and my brother. _

_ We still don't know what happened to my brother. He just disappeared one day. They never found him, never caught a trail. It was like he never even existed. _

_ As for my father? We moved in with Yuffie for a while, and she took care of us during the trail. He was sentenced for two counts, and put in jail. He killed himself a week later, and since then, it's been mom, Sora, and me. _

_ ._. ._. ._._

"Roxas? It's time to wake up."

"Five more minutes..."

"Roxas, get your butt out of bed, you lazy bum!"

Roxas opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear the mucus from his vision before focusing on Xion's face. "Why're you here?" He grumbled, rubbing at his left eye.

"Oh thanks, I feel wanted," she said, rolling her eyes. "Get up, it's time to get upppp. Don't you remember? You're nineteen today, silly!"

Roxas groaned. "I don't want to be nineteen if it means I gotta get up," he said, but sat up nonetheless, Xion moving back from being crouched over him and straddling his thighs instead. "C'mon, Roxas! Everyone's waiting for you!"

Roxas wrapped his arms around her waist and tipped them over, so he was laying on top of her with his head buried in the crook of her neck. "But I wanna stay hereeeee," he whined into her skin.

"HELP! HELP! RAPE, MURDER, HELP ME SOMEONE PLEASE!" Xion suddenly screamed. The sound of running was heard and then his door was kicked down, and Roxas was pulled off of Xion and dumped on the floor.

"Don't you touch my little girl, blondie, or I'll castrate you!"

Roxas sat up, rubbing his abused skull. "I wasn't even doing anything, Yuffie," he muttered. "Can I just go back to bed now?"

"No!" Yuffie and Xion replied, hands on their hips.

Roxas groaned and fell back on the floor. It was way too early to deal with the Kisaragis. He was about to drift off when he felt himself being lifted by his ankles. He opened his eyes to a pair of black skinny jeans, and he groaned. "Put me down or prepare to be pantsed, Axel."

"I would not suggest this," came the reply, making Roxas realize that the jeans were, in fact, leather, and it was not Axel, but rather Leon. Or Squall. Roxas could never remember what he was supposed to call the guy. "Get up. It's noon."

Roxas was set down on his bed. He glared at Leon as he left, before jumping off and pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Why do they always expect me to get up?"

"Because, Roxy, you went to bed at like flippin' eight last night and slept till eleven," Axel said, as he walked out of the bathroom. "We didn't know if you were dead or hungover, so we sent Xion in to do our bidding, and when that failed, Leon was all 'shut up Yuffie, I'll do it, god' and here we are."

Roxas muttered something about hating everyone and climbed out the window.

"Wait, Roxas, come back! Don't do this! Don't throw your life away!"

"Shut up, Axel."

"Nooooo! Roxy!"

Roxas took off his shoe and tossed it at the red-head who was hanging out of his window. He walked along the railing to Hayner's apartment, and slid in. Hayner was playing video games on his bed, wearing only a pair of camouflage boxers. Roxas climbed onto the bed with him and watched the other blond play-

"Dude you're playing Harvest Moon?"

"Shut up, this is a really hard game, Rock-ass."

"Whatever, Hayney-hiney."

Hayner's phone went off, blasting Linkin Park. "Sora says to go home," he said, before going back to his game, handing Roxas the phone. Roxas groaned at the text message.

"There's too many people in that apartment. You gotta let me hide here, Hayner. I don't want to die."

Hayner continued his game."Rox, just go home. Seifer will be coming through the door in 3...2...1..."

As predicted, Seifer slammed the door open, glaring at Roxas. "You. Chicken-wuss. Get the fuck out."

Roxas stared.

Seifer cracked his knuckles, taking a step forward. Hayner rolled his eyes and pushed Roxas off the bed, not once distracted from his precious game.

Roxas screamed a rather manly scream and shot through the window, running along the ledge and hopping the balconies to his own, because it was common knowledge that Seifer's 'birthday pinches' were more like birthday puntings. Even _Sora_ knew that, and Seifer _adored_ Sora.

Fucking weirdos.

Roxas jumped in through his window making strange sobbing fear noises, jumping onto the first person he saw and climbing onto their shoulders, still making high-pitched hysteric laugh-gone-wrong sob noises.

"Roxas, I'm not a tree."

Roxas replied with a loud sob noise and buried his face in red spikes, legs wrapped around the lanky man's waist, hands groping his face.

"Uh, okay then... Guys, I think I found Roxas," he walked into the kitchen, stumbling into the wall.

"Roxas, quit cheating on Xion," Yuffie said, pulling at the hysteric boy. "C'mon, Seifer's not that bad..."

"Not _that _bad? He was going to kill me!" Roxas sputtered, voice cracking as he went higher and higher in octave. He climbed from Axel onto Yuffie.

Yuffie screeched and ripped the blond off her, slamming him on his back, shaking the apartment.

Roxas let out a groan. Maybe he should have stayed at Hayner's and got his ass beat by Seifer... there's a lot more honor in that, no matter what Yuffie says.

"Ugh..._Mom._ Don't break my boyfriend," Xion said, sounding very much like the stereotypical teenaged girl. "Go flip Riku."

Yuffie cheered, and skipped off.

"Huh? What the-," boom, crash, "shit." Another male groan and the sound of someone jumping. "You wanna go?"

"Come at me, bro!" Yuffie replied.

Riku charged, tackling the so-called ninja to the floor, growling as he tickled the Wutain woman beneath him.

Yuffie screamed in laughter, shoving his hands away and sitting up, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Whoa, Riku, why didn't you tell me we were having a tickle fight?" Sora asked, blue eyes wide. He pouted, making Riku melt. Then Sora grinned deviously, and launched his attack on Riku, sending the older boy rolling in a fit of laughter, trying to get away from the brunette's torture.

Somewhere along the line, Demyx started tickling at Axel's abdomen, with no results. Demyx whined, and Axel looked at him, brows furrowed. "Demyx, we've been over this. I'm not ticklish."

Demyx's shoulders slumped as he pouted. "I miss Zexy," he mumbled.

And then he tripped over Roxas, reaching out and grabbing Axel for support-resulting in both of them and Xion crashing down on top of the blond.

"Fuck yeah! Dogpile!" Yuffie yelled, slamming her body down on the small pile and causing several groans.

After five minutes of pleading, Riku came and pried Yuffie off the pile, kicked Axel off Demyx, pulled Xion out from under Demyx by the waist, and helped Roxas stand up. He grunted and tossed Xion at Roxas, and then went back to Sora, who was currently bothering Aerith.

._. ._. ._. ._.

Yuffie was asleep, sprawled all over Leon, Yuna had her head resting on Aerith's shoulder, Sora was on Riku's lap, eyes glued to the screen, Xion and Roxas sat together on an armchair, talking quietly, Axel was glaring daggers at Xion, and Demyx was begging Axel to hold him. All was once again right with the world, as they watched Sora's favorite movie, The Lion King. Or in Yuffie's case, dreamed about epic ninja fights which resulted in her occasionally kicking Leon in places that made him tear up and whimper.

Then Rikku and Paine showed up, each with two six-packs of beer and a bottle of vodka, and the shit hit the fan, as Axel would so elegantly put it.

Xion and Leon decided to take Yuffie and lock her in the closet in her room, lest she wake up and find booze. Xion opted out, saying she needed to keep Yuffie from coming out of the closet. At that, Axel started snickering and elbowing his partner in crime, Demyx.

Yuna sighed as her friend Rikku started up a game of beer pong at the coffee table, using instead shots of vodka, and somehow convinced Roxas to play with her.

Now, generally, Roxas was good at this kind of thing. However, after his first two shots and a beer, he suddenly wasn't so good anymore. That did not, however, prevent him from continuing his game, getting Rikku completely wasted.

The thing about Roxas and alcohol was that it made him kinda... well. Let's just say that Roxas shouldn't drink. He spent the entire night it seemed crying as he stumbled around blindly, mimicking Demyx's earlier behavior of begging everyone in the apartment to hold him.

Which is why for ten minutes, Roxas was clinging to Leon and crying about how he didn't love him enough. Poor Leon was the picture of 'DO NOT WANT' as he tried to pry himself from the blond boy's grip. After Leon had escaped, Roxas clung onto Demyx, who was also a clingy, crying drunk. The two sat in the corner having a miniature tear-filled love-fest until Demyx passed out. Roxas, however, somehow managed to stay awake despite having now consumed three beers and some amount of vodka that he didn't bother counting.

It was then that he decided to climb Axel like a tree, and Axel announced he was going to bed. He didn't seem too concerned about the blond who now sat on his shoulders, arms raised in triumph at having climbed the giant tree in his living room.

"Roxas get off me," Axel groaned, earning a sad whimper from the boy on his shoulders.

"B-but I love you," he said, pouting.

"Then stop hiding."

Roxas seemed to see some sort of sense in this, and hopped off of Axel and pranced around to Axel's front, wrapping his arms around the taller man's chest and looking up at him with a grin. Without giving him time to react to the embrace, Roxas darted away and on top of the bed, sitting down on it, legs spread wide, and dragged Axel's lips to his.

It wasn't until Roxas was pulling at Axel's jeans that Axel realized that Roxas was completely wasted and would probably scream rape in the morning.

...Axel quickly decided he didn't give a flying fuck when he looked at the pout on Roxas's face, his indigo eyes clouded with lust. The only thought he could seem to process was the want to fuck the blond senseless.


	4. Exit Rival

._.._.._.

_I don't know what made me wake up that morning, but as soon as I opened my eyes I regretted it. My head felt like it was being split open and pecked at by a flock of angry birds. _

_ Somewhere along the line, I had realized that I was completely naked, sleeping next to Axel, my resident bed-hog. And that he was shirtless. I was pretty sure he wasn't wearing pants, either. _

_ Then it hit me. I got drunk and had sex with Axel, therefore cheating on my girlfriend of four years and best friend of nineteen years. Oh shit. _

_ Yuffie's going to kill me._

Roxas slowly got out of bed and grabbed some boxers before locking himself in the bathroom and turning the shower on. "I am _never_ letting Rikku get me drunk again," he muttered as the hot water poured over his back. _Wait. Was Axel even drunk? He must have been, I mean... Axel's straight. Right?_

It was then that Roxas remembered that Axel had continuously called him gay and hit on him the entire time he was there. _But he was just kidding, right?_

Roxas finished his shower and put on his boxers and went back into his room. Axel sat up and groaned, clutching his head. _Guess he must have been drunk after all._

"Ugh, head rush. Uh, morning Roxy," he said, and grinned.

Roxas fidgeted uncomfortably. _Or not._ "Listen, Axel, about whatever happened last night, whatever I said... It didn't mean anything, okay?"

Axel feigned confusion. "So when you and Demyx clung to each other confessing your undying love and sobbing, you didn't mean it?"

Roxas blinked. "No, I probably didn't. But that's not what I meant, and you know it."

Axel held his hands up in forfeit. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, Rox."

"That rule applies to this room as well, right now."

"Oh...that. I'm uh, sorry? I mean, you were drunk, and I was drunk, and it seemed like a good idea at the time and you didn't seem to object so I mean..."

Roxas held up a hand to stop him. "It's okay. It never happened. Last night, I passed out ten minutes after we got here. Got it, firecrotch?"

Axel nodded and watched as Roxas winced while pulling on his pants and limped around the room in search of his now-buzzing phone.

Roxas pulled the silver plastic thing out of his sock drawer and opened it.

"Roxas!"

"Don't talk so loud, Xion," he grumbled, rubbing his head.

"Oh...sorry... uh, anyways, I was wondering if you wanted pancakes? Squa-I mean, Leon- made a bunch of them."

"Uh...sure, I'll be over in a few."

"Great! Bring Axel and Sora if they're awake."

"Alright. See you in a few," he said, and hung up. He turned to Axel. "You. Up. Pancakes at Xion's. Now."

"Er, okay..." Axel said, jumping out of bed in his boxers.

_Oh what the hell. How come he had boxers on and I didn't? Not cool. _Roxas thought before leaving the room in search of his brother.

Sora was passed out on the floor in his hulk underwear and a pink tie next to Riku, who had lost his shirt but retained his pants. Rikku was passed out behind the couch if the arm and few blond braids sticking out from behind it were any indicator, and Paine was...

Well, Paine was sitting at the table drinking coffee with Yuna, her reddish-brown eyes narrowed at him. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, Roxas, you're up!" Yuna said, voice cheery.

Roxas doubled back, grimacing and holding his head.

Yuna lowered her voice. "Sorry... uh, would you like some coffee?"

Roxas shook his head and regretted doing so before he spoke. "I'm going over to Xion's to mooch pancakes from her-apparently they convinced Leon to cook for them," he said.

"Oh, I see. Is Axel up?"

As if on cue, Axel walked into the living room in a pair of baggy cargo pants and a tight black shirt. He winced when he realized everyone was staring at him. Well, except for the three sprawled out on the floor asleep.

Speaking of which... "Where's Demyx?"

"He wandered into Sora's room about twenty minutes ago, holding his head."

Roxas nodded. "Well, I'll be back. Unless Yuffie kills me, in which case I'll send Axel to relay my love."

Yuna smiled and waved them out, while Paine simply nodded.

Roxas slowly opened the door to the next door apartment, preparing for something to attack him. Coast seemed clear... he took a cautious step in and was tackled into the wall by something heavy and Yuffie shaped.

"Mom, let him in," Xion called from the kitchen. "Rox, c'mere before they get cold."

"Okay," he called back and walked into the kitchen. Xion sat on the counter in a tank top and her underwear, eating a pancake with her hands. She didn't believe in syrup and simply ate them like cookies. "I brought Axel with me, but Sora was passed out on the floor in his underwear still, so I just left him there."

"That's... nice?" Xion said, cringing at the thought. Sora wore briefs a lot. It was kind of awkward.

"They were hulk ones," he said, knowing what she was thinking about. "He had a pink tie on as well."

"Classic Sora," she said, grinning. Drinking age in Twilight Town was 16, so they'd seen a lot of Sora's post-party outfits in their time.

"Remember that time we found him in drag?"

"Oh my god, yes, that was hysterical!"

Roxas chuckled as he grabbed a plate and loaded it with five pancakes and dumped some syrup on it. He was lucky, he didn't get nauseous when he was hungover. Axel sauntered into the kitchen and followed his example grinning brightly.

"Good morning, Axel," Xion said, smiling. "I see you're in a good mood today."

"Well, unlike Roxy here, I didn't get totally wasted and cry on everyone."

Xion giggled at that. "Aw, poor Roxas. Didn't Leon love you enough?"

Roxas looked at her, bewildered.

Xion and Axel bust out laughing at his expression. Leon muttered something incoherent under his breath and rubbed his temples. Meanwhile, Roxas stuffed a pancake into his mouth and chewed.

._. ._. ._.

"Hey, Axel? I need to talk to Rox alone, so...we'll be on the roof, and if you need anything, Leon will probably help you," Xion said, pulling Roxas by the wrist. They went on the balcony and then disappeared.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about, Xi?"

Xion bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Rox... I...don't know how to put this lightly, but... I think..." She took a deep breath. "You know how Paine and Rikku like each other?"

Roxas nodded slowly.

Xion took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Roxas, I...I don't think we can do this anymore."

"Do what?"

"Go out. I mean, I love you, yes, but...I just..."

"There's someone else."

Xion looked away. "Roxas... I'm..I'm sorry," she said, grabbing his hand.

He jerked away. "Don't touch me," he growled, taking a step back. "I don't want your pity. Why don't you go play with your other guy? Clearly I'm not good enough for you."

"Roxas! That's not it! I-," she sighed and reached out and took his hand again, pressing it to her chest. "Roxas, there's no one else. It's just..." She looked up and met his eyes for a second before looking down. "I... I think I'm gay."

"What?" Roxas ripped his hand from her and stepped away. "All these years, _four goddamned years,_and you just now realize it? What happened to wanting to spend the rest of our lives together?"

"Roxas, I'm sorry, okay?" She said, voice raising a little. "I thought that you would understand, but I guess not. I was wrong. This isn't something I can help, Roxas. It's not my fault I didn't realize it until now."

Roxas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah... I know it's not your fault. I'm just... hurt, okay? I didn't mean to snap at you. I mean, who am I to judge you? My brother's gay, and my mom's best friends are lesbians. I can't exactly hate on you for your sexuality," he paused, lips twitching upwards. "That doesn't mean I won't hate on you, though."

Xion grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Roxas."

Roxas held out his hand. "Buddies?"

"Always," she said, taking his hand and pulling him into a hug. She pulled away and studied him. "And Roxas? I know what you and Axel did last night," she smirked. "You were so loud I'm pretty sure the apartments across the street heard you."

Roxas felt himself turn completely red. "I was drunk!" Xion shot him a look. He pouted, "shut up..."

Xion raised her hands in surrender. "I didn't say anything," she said. "But really, I think Axel already figured out that you're not as straight as you say you are."

"Just because Sora's gay doesn't mean I am!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really, now? You know what they say about Twins, don't you?"

"That's not always true," Roxas said, crossing his arms. "Besides, I don't think Axel's gay."

Xion's eyebrow went higher. Roxas still didn't know how she did that. "He's been glaring at me since he met me, Rox. He clearly likes you," she said, rolling her eyes. "Even Sora and Demyx know that."

Roxas let out an exasperated sigh. "Where is this going, Xion?"

She smiled sheepishly. "You'll see," she said teasingly as she winked and walked away, a skip in her step. She stopped and looked at him. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" She asked before she swung off the roof and into the apartment.

Roxas sighed and followed her, shrugging.

._. ._. ._.

It wasn't until he got to his room that it finally sunk in, resulting in the breaking of Roxas's calm-and-collected facade. He may have also broken a few picture frames from his dresser in a fit of sudden rage, scaring Axel shit-less as he watched the blond go berserk and destroy everything in his room.

An hour later, Roxas was sitting in his closet, crying. And when Roxas cried in his closet, it consisted of screaming and violent sobbing that made even the most callous people concerned. It was because of the shriek-like sobs that a crowd of concerned people, including but not limited to; Riku, Sora, Demyx, Axel, Yuna, Paine, Leon, and even the cause of the problem, Xion.

No one had heard from Yuffie since this morning. It was said that she had pulled a Houdini and was somewhere in Traverse Town, though no one could really say for certain with someone like Yuffie.

"Rox...c'mon... just come out of the damn closet," Axel whined, the sound reminiscent of a kicked puppy.

Shuffling sounded from inside the closet and the door opened-and a shoe was chucked at the red-head before the door slammed shut once again. Axel let out a low, frustrated growl, which soon turned into a battle-cry as he stood up and pulled the door open before Roxas had time to lock it.

And then they were both trapped in the closet, Roxas glaring at Axel through tear-filled eyes as he picked up another shoe and started to beat the taller, helpless, older man with it. After taking quite a beating from the shoe, Axel finally managed to hit the shoe out of the boys hands and pin his arms to his sides before opening the door and kicking it closed. Roxas was tossed at his twin, who passed him to Riku, who passed him to Demyx, who clung to the smaller blond and spun him around in pure happiness, declaring his undying love for his cousin.

And this time, Demyx was sober.

At least Axel _hoped_ his band-mate was sober.

._. ._. ._.

It took seven hours of being passed between Sora, Demyx, Axel, and Yuna for Roxas to calm down enough to function.

The next few days consisted of Roxas wandering listlessly around the apartment, eyes dull. He would wake up at noon, eat soup, use the bathroom, and then stare at the TV screen until ten, when he would go to bed, curling up in a ball next to Axel, who still shared his bed and hogged most of it.

On the fourth day, Roxas rolled out of bed at ten, took a shower, and ate a bowl of cereal. He then packed a bag and left, leaving a note saying he'd be at Hayner's house. When he came back six hours later, he was all glitter and rainbows and sunshine.

Well, not really.

In reality, Roxas was still a zombie, as Axel would say. He was just less of one. Instead of grunting acknowledgment, he actually used words, which soon turned into sarcastic sentences, making Axel clutch his chest and let out tears of joy that his blond buddy was back to his sweet, affectionate, loving ways. Axel was so shocked and filled with joy that he made the mistake of wrapping the blond in a hug, earning a knee to the groin and a muttered "asshole." Yup, Roxas was back to normal.

._. ._. ._.

A/N: Whoa people actually like this story. o.0 Anyways, thanks guys. :D So uh, next few chapters might jump around a lot in terms of point of views. I dunno yet, I haven't written them. 8D Uh so I'mma go do that soon. Yeah. Uh, thanks again for reading.


	5. Green Tea Girl

_It had been by chance that we met that day. I was running late to class; I'm taking Business classes at the community college here so I'll be prepared to take over the cafe if I have to, since Leon trusts me a lot more than my mom-despite her being the co-founder of the place. _

_ Leon is Yuffie's 25-year-old friend. I think sometimes that my mom just keeps the company of younger people to make herself forget that she's in her thirties now. Or maybe she doesn't realize that she's an old fart now. I guess it'd make sense since she looks maybe twenty at the most-when my mom was 25 everyone thought she was like twelve. She got a lot of shit for that, considering she had me when she looked like a nine year old. I really question my father's tastes..._

_ Uh, anyways-I ran into her. Literally, I slammed into her, and she fell backwards, with me falling on her. When I looked down, I thought she was going to cry, because her face was all red, but her eyes weren't watery so I figured she had sunburn or something. _

Xion cursed under her breath. "I'm sorry, I really am," she said, helping the blond up from the ground.

"Oh, it's not problem- are you running late as well?"

"Er, yeah... shit, uh, I should go-"

"We're in the same class," the blond said, smiling. "My name is Namine."

"I'm Xion," she said, grinning and holding her hand out.

Namine tilted her head at Xion's hand before shaking it lightly. "We've already missed half of the class," she said, fidgetting.

"Aw, dang it..." Xion said, putting a hand on one hip and the other at her chin. She looked up at Namine. "You wanna just skip?"

"Sure," she said, smiling. "I know a nice place we could go, if you're hungry?"

Xion's stomach growled in answer, causing the black haired girl to blush. "I, uh, forgot to eat this morning..."

Namine smiled and took Xion's hand in hers, leading her down the road.

And took her to Yuffie's and Leon's cafe. "Oh. Well, that's awkward," she said, stopping in her tracks.

"What is?" Namine asked, looking at her, eyes wide.

"Oh, it's nothing, my mum and her best friend own this place."

"You're Yuffie's daughter?"

"Uh, yeah... don't tell anyone though, I don't want to get jumped."

Namine giggled. "Will do," she said. She went into the cafe and sat down at a table.

"HEY XION WHAT DA FUCK YOU DOIN' HERE?"

"I'M HERE WITH A FRIEND, SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH," Xion yelled back.

"Oh!" Yuffie called back, coming out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "Hi there Namine, I didn't know you were a friend of Xion's."

"Oh, we just met today, Yuffie," Namine replied, smiling politely.

"So would you like the regular?" Yuffie asked, and towel whipped her daughter, who was innocently staring off into space, causing her to yelp.

Namine nodded, "Yes, please," she said.

"See how nice she is? Why aren't you that nice?" Yuffie said, shaking her daughter.

"Because you raised me, mom," Xion said, blankly.

Yuffie scowled. "What do you want, Xion?"

"Make Leon or Cid make me pancakes."

"What's wrong with mine?"

"You catch them on fire, mom. You know what? Just get me a danish."

Yuffie glared at her daughter and went into the kitchen, only to pop back out and toss a Danish at Xion's face. Xion caught the plastic-wrapped pastry before it hit her though, and took the seat across from Namine.

"It must be nice to have a mother who's so young," Namine said, smiling warmly.

"Uh, sure, if you like being viciously attacked and having your home booby-trapped, she's a great mom. Just don't let her cook, or you'll be sorry," she said, taking a bite out of her Danish.

Yuffie came back out and set a platter with two crepes covered in assorted berries in front of Namine, and then put a cup of green tea in front of the blond. "On the house today, Namine," she said before walking away.

"Sounds like the cook is sweet on you, Namine," Xion said, smirking.

Namine's eyes went wide. "Wha-no, no, no. Luxord is my uncle," she said, grinning sheepishly. "He always pays for me when he's in."

"Oh. That's nice of him," Xion said. "Leon lets me eat whatever as long as I keep mom from burning down his Cafe."

Namine giggled. "I've never met Leon, only Yuffie," she said. "He sounds nice."

Xion snorted. "He's like the mother figure I never had," she said, grinning. "He's usually ticked off about something, but I know he cares about me and mom. After all, he does live with us."

Namine took a bite of one crepe, closing her eyes as if to savor it. She opened them and blushed, hand still over her mouth. "Sorry, I, uh, really like Crepes, I guess."

Xion laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to Sora and Roxas coming in here and practically orgasming over pancakes."

Namine giggled, shaking her head. "You know those two?"

Xion nodded, smirking. "I grew up with them. They're like my brothers."

"EW, INCEST!" Yuffie screamed from the kitchen.

Xion rolled her eyes. "Roxas is my boyfriend, so I guess I'm not supposed to think of him as a brother figure anymore. Whatever."

"Oh, you're dating Roxas? I thought he was gay," she said, tilting her head.

"Yeah, I still think he is."

"What? I am not gay!" Roxas said, having just walked in the cafe.

This earned an eye roll from Xion, and a small smile. "Just come out and say it, you totally experimented with Hayner when you were twelve. It's okay to be gay."

"Shut up, you're my girlfriend. Aren't you supposed to defend me?"

Namine shook her head at the two, as Xion stood up and puffed her chest out, Roxas mimicking her.

"Come at me, bro!" Xion said, smacking her chest for emphasis.

Roxas busted out laughing. "That only works when Yuffie does it, with you it just makes you sound like a dyke."

Xion smacked him upside the head, looking away. _Maybe I am, Roxas. But you wouldn't like that, would you? _"Whatever, pretty boy. Go beg for Leon's lovin', I'm talking to a pretty girl right now and you're throwin' off the estrogen levels in here."

Roxas frowned, but stalked off to the kitchen anyways.

Namine raised an eyebrow at her when she sat down.

"Whenever Roxas gets drunk, he goes around to every guy in the room and asks them to hold him," she said, grinning. "Then when everyone rejects him, Leon feels bad and lets Roxas climb all over him."

Namine giggled. "Somehow, I expect that from Sora, not Roxas."

"I know, right? Totally out of character for Mr Stick up the Ass."

Suddenly, a shoe hit Xion in the back of the head.

That was four years ago. Roxas and Xion had been dating for two months at the time. Xion and Namine became fast friends.

It wasn't until she turned eighteen that problems began to arise.

It started with a dream. A dream that reoccurred nightly, leaving Xion to wake up flushed and wet every morning. And then, Namine came out to her as being a lesbian.

Xion didn't know what to do. She was in a relationship with her best friend, and she didn't want him to hate her. That had been the only reason she'd gone out with him- so he wouldn't hate her. She'd known she liked girls from the time she was fourteen, when, at a party, she and Kairi were dared to make out for five minutes. It had felt so right-where as making out with Roxas felt like...well, making out with your best friend who you only feel platonic love towards.

In retrospect, she probably should have just said no in the first place, and told him that she was into girls. But she had been scared, and never knew what to do in those situations.

And now she'd lost Roxas. He wouldn't so much as look at her anymore. Xion felt _horrible._ Everyone knew now, how she'd lied to him for four years, and then broken up with him, the day after his birthday.

Everyone also knew that Roxas had slept with Axel earlier that very same day, but that didn't matter so much. He was drunk.

Yuffie was supportive-how could she not be? She was kicked out for getting knocked up at fifteen, she couldn't throw that kid out for being gay, especially with Yuffie's tendency to pick up chicks and her habit of hitting on Tifa every time she saw the woman.

Sora had been sending her glares, which didn't surprise her much, really. Sora'd been that way since she and Kairi made out at his birthday party. Didn't make sense to anyone, but he had been that way for a while.

The thing she _hadn't_ planned on, was Axel being on her side. He had never really been friendly towards her before, so she was taken a bit aback at his occasional show of decency towards her-a pat on the back, a reassuring smile, a small 'buck up, kid' every once in a while.

He liked Roxas. And Roxas?

Well, Roxas was hiding in a secret compartment of his metaphorical closet. He was so far in, he was practically in the bathroom.

Xion giggled at the thought, causing Namine to raise one perfectly shaped blond eyebrow at her. Xion shook her head and smiled lightly. "Just thought about something funny, don't worry, I'm not crazy...yet."

Namine smiled, and slipped her hand into Xion's as she dragged her into a small Japanese restaurant. Xion felt the heat rise to her face as Namine's fingers intertwined with her own. They sat down and ordered drinks.

"So what did you need to talk about, Nami?"

Namine looked down at her lap. "I...Xion, I want you to hear me out," she looked at the girl and Xion nodded. "I...last night, I got kicked out."

"What? Why?"

"I never told them, Xi. You're the only one I told."

"Then come live with me! Mom and Leon won't mind," Xion said, pounding her hands on the table. "I don't want you to have to sleep on someone's couch or sleep in the streets, Nami."

Namine shook her head. "I couldn't do that," she said. "I don't want to trouble you guys like that."

"It wouldn't be trouble, Namine."

Namine drew a shaky breath. "I can't live with you, Xion," she said.

"Why not?"

"Because I _like _you, Xion."

Xion blinked. "Yeah, I like you too."

Namine shook her head. "No, Xion. I mean I _like _like you."

"So do I."

Namine's face turned completely red. "Xion, you're straight."

Xion gave her a bewildered look. "Then I broke up with Roxas for no reason," she said, and laughed. "I've known I liked girls since I was fourteen. I just...never said anything."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The two sat in silence until their food came.

"Nami, just move in with me. It's no big deal. I mean, I have a bunk bed, for crying out loud. There's no one using it! So just move in with me, and quit moping."

Namine smiled. "Don't you think you should ask Yuffie and Leon?"

"Trust me, they don't care. Yuffie loves the heck out of you, and Leon...well no one cares about him."

"Well...I guess until I can afford my own place..."

Xion grinned in triumph.

._. ._. ._.

"Mom? I'm home-" Xion called, slipping through the front door and froze. Namine walked in behind her, and Xion covered the blond's eyes with her hand before leading her into her room and closing the door. "I did _not _need to see that," she muttered.

On the couch had been Leon, shirtless, devouring the face of another shirtless man, this one with blond hair that stuck out in a way similar to Roxas's. If she hadn't known better, she might have thought it was Roxas. Xion shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Well, welcome to my humble abode. Please ignore the men trying to eat each other's faces off in the living room, and dinner is usually served around six-thirty," she said. "Top bunk is mine, don't be alarmed when you hear a loud bang in the middle of the night. Also, watch out for Yuffie's booby-traps, they're everywhere."

Namine nodded, sitting down on the bottom bunk. She set her duffel bag down next to her feet. "Thanks again for letting me stay here, Xion," she said, quietly.

Xion melted at the sad look on Namine's face, and moved to gather the smaller girl into her arms. Namine wrapped her arms around Xion, burring her face into her shoulder as they fell backwards onto the bed.

._. ._. ._.

Roxas awoke to a soft humming. He glanced around his room, eyes landing on Axel sitting on his suitcase, a notebook in his lap, chewing lightly on the cap of his pen.

The red-head glanced up at him and smiled brightly. "Morning, Sunshine."

"What day is it?"

"Tuesday," he said, and wrote something down in his notebook.

"What's that?"

"Demyx's diary, can't you tell?" Axel said, smirking. "It's my song journal."

"Oh."

"Yeah...you wanna go for a walk?"

"Depends. Were do you intend on going?"

"Anywhere but here, so your mom doesn't try to enlist me in furniture rearranging like she did with Riku," he said, shaking his head. "Poor guy."

Roxas chuckled. "Yeah, let me throw some jeans on and we'll go," he said, hopping out of bed. He threw on a pair of black, loose fitting jeans that he suspected were most likely Sora's, and stuffed his feet into a pair of sandals. "You ready?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah, but you need a shirt. It's like fifty out."

Roxas grimaced and grabbed a hoodie off the back of his desk chair. Axel nodded and led the way out of the apartment, and onto the street. Eventually Axel led him to the top of the clock tower, after buying them both Sea-salt ice cream bars.

"Wow, it's beautiful up here," Roxas said, breathily.

"Yeah," Axel said, sitting on the ledge, his right leg up and the other swinging. He patted the spot next to him. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall," he said, catching the unsure look in Roxas's indigo eyes.

Roxas mumbled an okay and sat down next to Axel. He gazed out at the sunset. "Wow. That's amazing," he said.

"Yeah, you are."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the comment. "What'd you say?"

"Er, nothing. Don't worry 'bout it."

Roxas smirked. "Right," he said, taking a bite of his ice cream.

Axel frowned at his ice cream, taking a bite. "Roxas..."

"I'm okay now, Axel. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah... I know," he said, sighing. "I just...hate that you won't tell me things."

Roxas frowned. "Maybe I don't have anything to tell, Axel."

"I know you do. I can see it in your eyes, Roxy, you can say you're okay, that nothings wrong, but I know better."

Roxas closed his eyes, breathing in deeply through his nose. "I'm really okay, Axel. I mean, yeah, I'm a little mad because my best friend lied to me all this time, but... she's my best friend. I can't really help but love her, you know?"

Axel nodded. "And you know that it's not something you can change, right?"

"Yeah," Roxas said. "I just wish she'd have told me she wasn't interested in the first place..."

"Hey Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you and Xion ever actually do it?"

Roxas glared at him, but shook his head all the same. "I could never get it up, and she always got really nervous," he said. "So after the second year, we just...stopped trying."

Axel stared at him. "God damn, how did you both not explode from frustration?"

"Uh. I have hands for a reason, Ax."

Axel shook his head, grinning. "Maybe you both just needed to get really drunk. That worked well," he said, winking.

Roxas felt the heat rise to his face and he scowled. "Shut up, Axel. Just shut up."

Axel held his hands up in surrender, one eyebrow raised. "Maybe you're just gay, Rox. Ever think about that?"

Roxas stared at him. "Why do you keep implying that? What's in it for you? You're straight."

Axel snorted, which turned into him laughing, falling backwards onto the pavement behind him. "Oh, that's a good one, Rox. Me? Straight? As if."

"Ew, and I let you in my bed? What was I thinking?"

"That I am the most sexy man you have ever seen and you'd be lucky to wake up in my arms," he said, smirking.

"I'll give you that, you are sexy."

"And you like waking up in my arms."

"Uh."

"Admit it."

"I wouldn't really know since it's only ever happened once, and technically I wasn't in your arms."

"Oh. Well then. You like waking up next to me, then."

"I'd rather wake up next to Hayner," Roxas said. "He doesn't wake up at the ass crack of dawn."

"Well, excuse me, for not waking up at noon on a daily basis."

"You're excused."

Axel smirked. "You like falling asleep next to me. I know you do, because you're always awake until I climb into bed with you."

Roxas shifted uncomfortably. "You watch me sleep?"

Axel grinned. "You're so cute when you sleep, it's hard not to. Did you know you-"

"Talk in my sleep? Yeah, I know. People have told me that all my life."

Axel glanced away. "Last night you were saying my name, Roxas."

Roxas furrowed his brow at the red-head. "You were in my dream last night, I think. You and Demyx were chasing squirrels and then you got shot."

Axel winced. "You usually have dreams like that?"

Roxas shrugged. "Sometimes," he said. "One time I had a dream my dad broke in and tried to kill me and mom, and Cloud beat him over the head with a frying pan."

Axel made a hm noise, seemingly thinking. "Who's Cloud?"

Roxas looked away. "Cloud was my oldest brother. He would be twenty-five now. He...disappeared one day."

Axel rubbed the blond's back. "You must have really hated your dad," he said quietly.

"Yeah...you could say that."

Axel's eyes softened at the sadness that leaked through Roxas's eyes and spread to his face. He pulled the blond into his arms, only to have Roxas shove him away. "Sorry," Axel muttered.

"Don't be." Roxas said, leaning onto his shoulder.

Axel was confused. "I thought you didn't want to be touched or something," he said, a slight question in his tone.

"No... I just don't want to fall," Roxas said, closing his eyes. They'd been walking around town since about one, and it was nearly seven now. "I don't mind hugs. It's cold out."

"Really? I think it's kinda nice. At least, for July."

"Hey, when do you go back to Radiant Gardens?"

"Friday," he said, glumly.

Roxas frowned. "That's lame. I was just getting used to you taking up all the space on my bed."

"Your bed is beast, Rox."

"I know," he said, smirking. "It has to be, to hold someone like me."

Axel made a noise that could only be described as a chortle. "Roxas, can I marry your bed?"

"Nope, sorry. We're madly in love with each other."

"Damn. This is a messed up love triangle."

"I know," he said. "This calls for a fight to the death for the hand of my bed in marriage."

"Nah. Think I'd rather share your bed with you, marriage is scary."

Roxas snorted. "Tell me about it," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're welcome in my bed anytime. Unless you know, I'm busy with it."

"You? Yeah right."

Roxas felt his face flush as he smacked Axel on the shoulder. "I'm not some prudish little boy, Axel."

"Yeah, I know. By the way, was that your first time?"

Roxas shook his head, smirking. "Back in like, 8th grade, I got totally wasted and had a threesome with Hayner and Seifer."

Axel shook his head. "That's just weird, Rox."

"Oh, like you've never had a threesome, Mr Roxas Is A Prude?"

Axel shook his head. "Plenty of one night stands. No threesomes that I can think of."

"Now who's the prude? Huh?"

"Roxas. You've had sex with guys, but not girls, and yet you're convinced you aren't gay?"

Roxas stared at him and then at his hands. "Well...I mean... I was drunk, so..."

"Oh come _on,_ Roxas. You can't have sex with three guys and not be at the very least bisexual."

Roxas glowered at the red-head. "Fine, I'm bisexual. Happy?"

"There, doesn't that feel better?"

The scowl on Roxas's face deepened.

"Now, now, Roxy. Don't give me that look. It's okay, just let it all out. I'm here for you, buddy."

"Axel?"

"Yes, Roxy?"

"You're annoying and stupid and I hate you."

"Aw, I love you too, Rox."

Roxas looked away, cheeks tinted red. "Axel..." Axel glanced at the blond, smirking. "I... I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I don't hate you..."

"Oh, I'm still annoying and stupid though?"

Roxas nodded.

"Okay, whatever makes you feel better, Roxas," Axel said, smirking.

Roxas looked up at Axel, muttering a 'sorry' before pulling the red-head down to him and crushing his lips against Axel's.

._. ._. ._.

A/N: This is practically a double chapter. Aren't you proud of me? XD

Anywho, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who said you liked this story, it means a lot to me that someone actually likes this. :3 If I had any sort of brain, I would totally reply to you all's reviews. But I don't. /can't figure it out/ It's probably something really obvious and I'm just that blond. (er, no offense to blonds. o.0)

At this point, I have most of the plot worked out in my head, and I should really get to writing it down somewhere so I don't forget...Uh yeah. Anyways. Thanks for reading! :D


	6. Old Friend, Maybe Later

_I don't know why I did it. It was like at that very minute, my brain just short circuited._

_ And man, was I glad it did._

Axel fell over backwards, with Roxas on top of him. The small blond was kissing him like he would die without it, the kisses slowed only when Roxas began to draw his lip over Axel's. Axel smirked and slid his tongue out to meet Roxas', causing the blond to open his mouth.

Roxas found himself beneath Axel then, Axel's tongue sliding against his and causing him to let out small moans, as they fought for dominance.

And as suddenly as it began, it ended. Axel pulled away, sitting up and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Roxas propped himself up on an elbow and did the same.

"We can't do this, Roxas," Axel said, after a few minutes of silence.

"Why not?"

Axel glanced at the pavement beneath them. "Because in three days, I'll be going back to Radiant Gardens," he said. "And you'll still be here. It's not right."

Roxas scowled at the red head. "Just because you're in another town doesn't mean we can't... I mean... Radiant Garden isn't so far away..."

"Roxas..."

"No, Axel. You can't do this shit, and then just say 'oh, this will never work out,' and walk away. That's not cool."

Axel winced. "I'm not trying to-"

"Axel. Look at me. Look. At. Me." Axel looked into the blond's eyes. "Don't fuck with me, man. We've already gone all the way. Remember?"

Axel snorted. "Yeah. Like I could forget that, how you screamed my name and passed the fuck out afterwords."

Roxas growled slightly. "You weren't even drunk, Axel. You can't exactly say you don't want me," he said.

"No, I can't. And I won't. That's not what I'm saying, Roxas."

"Then what _are_ you saying, Axel?"

"I..." Axel looked away. "I just don't want to get hurt, okay?"

Roxas sighed. "Axel... you're gonna get hurt no matter what, that's how life works."

"That's not true!"

Roxas shot him a look. "Really, Axel? So as long as you never get into anything with anyone, your life will forever be happy?"

Axel looked at the ground, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well...maybe not, but it would..."

"No, Axel, it won't solve anything when you get fucking chlamydia or some shit because you're fucking random guys."

"And girls..."

"And girls. Which means you run the risk of reproducing. We don't want to see more of you ugly dumbfucks 'round here."

Axel frowned.

Roxas smirked. "I know you're in a band and shit but that doesn't mean they won't try to make you pay child support."

Axel grimaced. "I use protection, Rox."

"And condoms tear," he said.

Axel let out an exasperated sigh. "What do you _want _from me, Roxas?"

Roxas smirked. "Stop sleeping around, Axel."

"Why?"

"Because, Axel, I don't want to see your pretty face covered in herpes."

Axel stuck his tongue out at him. "Fine. Then you're going to tell your mom you like men tonight."

"Deal."

._. ._. ._.

"Hey...mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I uh, have something to say," Roxas said, putting down his fork. "I...uh, I'm gay."

Roxas examined his mother's face, finding only her eye twitching slightly. She sighed. "Roxas, if there was any doubt in my mind that you weren't, it was gone when you were eleven."

Roxas blinked. _"What?"_

"I've known you were gay since I walked in on you and Hayner making out on the couch when you were eleven."

Roxas stared at her. He didn't remember that. "Oh. Well, silly me, forget I said anything I guess."

Yuna nodded and went back to eating.

The silence was broken by Riku and Axel's snickering from across the table, which soon turned into Riku and Axel on the floor laughing with Sora, Demyx, Roxas, and Yuna looking on in confusion as they ate their dinner.

"Homan, that was _hysterical, _Riku," Axel said, sounding winded. "How the heck did you come up with that one?"

"I was walking down the street and this lady was at the bus stop, licking some guy in a suit's face, and he just flat out stood there, so she jumped on the bench screaming like a banshee and jumped on this pink haired guy's shoulders and they ran off into the sunset," Riku said, wiping tears from his eyes. "And everyone who saw just kinda looked at each other and busted out laughing."

"That's grand, Riku," he said, making a 'whoo' noise of exhaustion. "I think I just dropped ten pounds laughing, dude. I missed you something fierce."

"Yeah, you should have seen him when you left, Riku. Axel stayed in his room and cried like a baby for a week," Demyx said, grinning.

"I did not! That was you, dickface."

"Oh...yeah it was... Well, Axel burned down the kitchen."

Axel stared at Demyx before laughing. "I remember that! Yeah, I was trying to make brownies or some shit like that and somehow ended up putting the flour container on a burner that was on and it totally exploded."

"Zexion was _pissed._"

"Dude, Zexion chased me around with his book and then beat me over the head with it," Axel said, rubbing his head and frowning. "I didn't think I'd ever see the guy mad about anything, not to the point where he hits me with his precious book."

"He still have that thing? God, that thing...what _is_ that thing, anyways?"

"I have no fricken clue, Riku," Axel said, shaking his head.

"Well, I know on page two-thirty seven, he has a picture of Roxas with loads of information...like, he even knows the size of his little pinky toe down to the thousandth millimeter," Demyx said, swallowing a mouthful of spaghetti.

"That's crazy. How does he even figure that kind of thing out?"

"More importantly, why does your friend keep that kind of thing on _me?_"

Demyx shrugged. "Zexion's mysterious that way. It's like he just... knows."

"Is that why you're constantly swooning over him, Demyx?" Axel chided, smirking.

Demyx blushed and stirred his spaghetti around. "What? He's cute, alright?"

"Wonder what he has about you," Axel said, rubbing his chin.

"Well, under general description, it says 'Demyx Ackerfield, cousin of Roxas and Sora Richards. Really, really stupid, but good at gathering and retaining information. Enjoys swimming, sleeping, eating, the color blue, and his sitar.'"

Everyone stared at Demyx. He looked around, and then looked back down at his plate.

"I, uh, and under Axel it says: 'Axel Ethons, Kairi Ethons' illegitimate brother. Smarter than he lets on, with an IQ around 144. Enjoys fire, can't cook, looks away when he lies, doesn't eat much, natural red-head. Does not seem interested in the fans, but enjoys singing.'"

"Creepy," Axel said. "I don't think I've ever taken an IQ test though."

"Zexion probably tested you without you even knowing," Riku said.

Sora raised his hand, saying 'me next, me next!' excitedly.

Demyx chuckled. "'Sora Richards, Twin of Roxas Richards, brother of Cloud and Son of Yuna and the Deceased Mr. Richards. Not as intelligent as his twin, forgetful and often oblivious to people's intentions. Enjoys simple things, can be easily conned into doing anything, especially by his twin or best friend Kairi. Right hand dominant, but seems to be ambidextrous in certain areas.'"

Sora gaped, and moved his fork into his left hand, and completely failed at spinning spaghetti onto his fork, making him pout. Riku patted him on the back, and Sora grinned up at him.

"Hey Demyx, what about Rox-"

"No." Roxas said, cutting Axel off. "Demyx, no."

Demyx nodded, seemingly understanding.

Axel frowned at his food. He decided he'd ask Demyx later.

._. ._. ._. (A few days ago...)

"Leon," a voice said, shaking his shoulder. The accent was weird...but... familiar. "Leon, wake up." Except it sounded more like _Rle-_on.

Leon opened one tired indigo eye. "What do you want?"

"Move over."

Leon grunted and sat up, realizing he was asleep on Yuffie's couch. What alarmed him more was the fact that some guy was telling him to move over. His gaze shot up at the man, his mouth open slightly in shock. "Cl-"

"Well, aren't you simply oblivious, Leon? I thought you were better than that," the blond man at the other end of the couch said, smirking with amusement.

"I-shut it," Leon said, trying not to pout. He'd been around Sora way too much lately.

"I suppose it has been quite some time, hasn't it?"

"You talk weird," Leon said, eyes narrowed. "Like... old man weird."

Cloud's eye twitched.

"And you smell like... well, you smell like smoke and axe. You reek of it."

Cloud winced, eye still twitching.

"Why are you even here? Your mom lives next door, loser. Get outta here," Leon said, kicking Cloud in the thigh jokingly. "Go on, get."

"No," he said, sternly. "I came here, because I knew you were here. Aerith told me you moved out, and in with Yuffie. Why?"

"It's closer to work," he said, eyes narrowed. "You've been gone for about...five or six years, Cloud. What gives?"

Cloud's chin jerked up at least an inch at that. "I...was living with someone else. Is that so wrong, Leon?"

"Where? You sound like a chink."

Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "Wutai."

"Holy shit, dude. How the fuck did you get there?" Leon shook his head. "More importantly, who did you know that lived there?"

Cloud glanced at his old friend and sighed. "Sephiroth," he said, quietly.

Leon stared at him. "So, you and Sephiroth, huh?"

He shook his head. "We broke up. So I am here."

"Naturally, when your boyfriend in Wutai dumps you, you fly back to Twilight Town and hunt down your best friend growing up, and-how did you even get in here?"

Cloud sniffed. "I... broke in."

"No, I mean Yuffie has traps set up everywhere. How are you not like maimed?"

"I disarmed them," he said, shrugging.

Leon shook his head in disbelief. "I am asleep right now. I'm going to wake up in my bed, and you're still going to be missing."

Cloud looked at him, smirked, and shoved him off the couch. "Did you feel that?"

Leon groaned.

"You're awake, then. Now make me food, since you're up."

"Bastard." Nevertheless, Leon got up and made sandwiches at three in the morning, and fed Cloud, who scarfed them down like he hadn't eaten in days-which couldn't be possible if he went to see Aerith, as she wouldn't allow such a thing. The world would implode before she allowed someone to go hungry.

Seemingly satisfied, Cloud stretched and yawned. Leon sighed. "I guess we can share my bed. It'll be just like old times, right?"

Cloud smiled slightly at that. "Yeah...just like old times," he said, seemingly distant.

Leon led the blond into his room crashing onto his bed. Cloud laid down next to him. "Heh, you're still shorter than me, Cloud."

"We're the same height, Leon."

Leon narrowed his eyes. "No, I'm definitely taller."

"Shut up and go to sleep, Leon."

Leon muttered a 'fine' under his breath and rolled over so he faced the wall, quickly falling back asleep.

._. ._. ._.

"SQUALLYKINS," Yuffie called from somewhere in the apartment. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

Leon let out a loud incoherent noise, not willing to open his eyes. He was so warm...

Leon's eyes shot open and he flew back, hitting the wall. "Holy shit, Roxas in my bed." He said, then noticed that no, this was not, in fact, Roxas, but an older, taller, more muscular version. He squinted. "Cloud."

Light blue eyes, the color of the sky, opened slowly and regarded him. "Leon."

"Go home."

"No."

"Fine."

"Good."

Leon shoved himself off the bed and stumbled out into the hall, finding Yuffie in the kitchen. She whipped around. "You. How do I make the microwave work?"

Leon groaned and rubbed his temples. "What are you trying to cook?"

"Cereal."

Leon pulled the bowl out of the microwave. "Your cereal doesn't require heating up, Yuffie."

"Oh."

"Dumb ass." Leon said, smacking Yuffie upside the head. He then noticed her looking up at the entrance to the kitchen, seemingly fixed on something.

"Leon! Leon! There's a hot guy in my kitchen!" She said, pointing at the blond in the entrance.

Leon face-palmed. "Yes, Yuffie, there is a hot guy in your kitchen."

She stared at Cloud in wonder. "Wait. Why is there a hot guy in my kitchen?"

"Because said hot guy is too lazy to go home, and decided he'd mooch off his loyal best friend."

Yuffie looked between the two men in her kitchen, brow furrowed. "Why are the hot ones always gay?"

Leon smashed his head into the cupboard. "I said, _best_ friend, not _boy_ friend, Yuffie."

Yuffie shook her head. "No, no. I can sense these things. Trust me."

"Yuffie, Leon and I are not seeing eachother," Cloud said, his voice still with the strange accent. _Yu_fi, not Yuffie. He walked towards the woman, smirking. "You haven't changed a bit, _mom._"

"Cloudikins!" Yuffie exclaimed, spoon falling from her mouth as she knocked her chair over in order to fling herself at the blond boy, wrapping her legs around his waist in a hug. "I'm not old enough to be your mom, Cloudie. Go bother your o'lady."

Cloud chuckled as he set her back on the ground. "I figured I would stop in and pay my favorite ninja a visit first," he said, patting her on the head. "But you weren't awake when I got in last night, so I had to bother Leon."

"Poor Cloudie! You could have woken me up, I wouldn't have minded!"

He shook his head. It was a well known fact that you could not wake a slumbering Yuffie. "I wanted food, too, so the loser on the couch was my best bet at the time."

Yuffie nodded, and hugged him again. "Where the heck did you go? I missed my little raincloud."

"I went to Wutai," he said.

"You. Went. To. Wutai."

Cloud nodded, wincing. "Yeah... I lived there for five and a half years."

Yuffie scowled. "Did you...meet Godo?"

"Er...yeah. He kinda kicked my ass."

Yuffie smirked. "That old geezer? Jeez, Cloud. You wimp."

Cloud looked away in shame. "I'm sorry, Yuffie. I'm a failure."

"Ah, Cloud, no, don't say that. You're not a failure, buddy," Leon said, taking the emotionally-wounded Cloud into his arms. He glared at Yuffie. "Nice going, dumb ass. I think you made him cry."

"Eeahhh? I didn't mean too!" Yuffie said, pouting.

"Eat your cereal, Yuffie. It's getting soggy," Leon commanded, lugging Cloud onto the couch. "C'mon, buddie. Yuffie was just kidding, you know how she is. She knows you're not a wimp."

Cloud buried his face into Leon's neck. "I'm weak and a failure and let everyone down," he said, voice shaky.

"No, Cloud. You moved to a foreign country all on your own, and then came back the same way, disarmed all of Yuffie's traps, and got me to make you food at three in the morning," Leon said, rubbing the blond's back soothingly. "You're bad ass, Cloud. No one could possibly think otherwise."

"You...think so?"

Leon snorted. "I _know_ so."

"Thanks, Leon," Cloud said, smiling lightly.

Cloud was weird, Leon knew that. He was the kind of person who always kept a straight face- if you wanted to know how he _really_ felt, you had to look into his eyes. And right now, Cloud's eyes were crying out for someone to hold him- like a silent, drunken Roxas.

So Leon threw his arms around the blond, knocking then over on the couch, earning a small chuckle from Cloud. "You smell like home, Leon," he said, voice content.

"Why are you smelling me?"

"'Cause I can," Cloud said. Leon could hear the smirk in his voice.

"God, your hugs are so much better than Roxas's."

"You hug my brother?"

"..."

Cloud laughed. "I expect that from Sora, but Roxas?"

"He's a clingy, sappy drunk," Leon explained. "I always feel bad because no one will hug him."

"Is that why you're hugging me?"

"I dunno, are you drunk, Cloud?"

"Not unless you spiked my food."

Leon grinned into his friend's shoulder. "I miss you, buddy. You're sticking around, right?"

"I...yeah."

Leon hugged him tighter, kissing the blond's neck. Cloud stiffened beneath him. "Uh, sorry..."

"You don't do that with Rox, do you?"

"Why? You jealous?"

"No, ass, that's my brother."

"I don't. I only do stuff to you."

"Hey guys? Before you start making out on my couch, can you tell me where my phone is?" Yuffie asked, suddenly appearing right next to the two men.

"Er, check your pants from yesterday?"

"I didn't wear pants yesterday..." Yuffie said, narrowing her eyes at Leon.

"Uh, yeah you did."

"How do _you _know?"

"Because, Yuffie, I'm the one who made you put them on," he said crossly. "Now go check the pockets of them and find your phone, you ditz."

"Geez, someone's PMSing.."

"YUFFIE!" Leon growl-yelled, jumping up from the couch and tackling the small Wutai woman to the ground. She squirmed, and Leon put her in a headlock, bending an arm behind her back.

"mmm... Guys? What're you-" Xion said, yawning. "-doing?"

"Morning Xion!" Yuffie said, brightly.

Xion shook her head and went into the kitchen. Leon released Yuffie and stood up, walking back over to Cloud.

"Hey, blondie. Wanna go for a walk?"

Cloud stared at him and then nodded.

"Hey, Cloud? Why's your last name Strife, when Roxas and Sora are Richards?"

Cloud stared at Leon for a good minute. "Different fathers."

"Then how-no. No, no, no. Roxas is like your little clone. That's not cool, dude. That doesn't work."

Cloud shrugged.

"You...no way," Leon said, realization showing in his eyes. "You had your name changed."

Cloud shook his head. "When I was six, mom remarried. She was already pregnant with Sora and Roxas, and they took his last name. I kept mine."

"Oh."

"Roxas and Sora don't know though, since it happened before they were born."

"Well. Cloud Richards sounds wrong anyways. I like your name how it is. It fits you, with your moody my-life-sucks outlook on life."

Cloud glared at him.

Leon smirked back. "Emo fag."

"Narcissistic bastard."

"Like you can talk, pretty boy."

Cloud smirked. "You like it."

"I do," he said, grinning. "But that's a secret. I still have to act like an ass to you in public, yah know. Keep my rep solid."

"Ditto."

Leon smirked, and leaned into Cloud as they walked down the hall to Yuffie's apartment. "But you can do whatever you want with me in bed, Cloud," he whispered, nipping at Cloud's earlobe before pulling away, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets and grinning cockily at the slightly lust-clouded look in Cloud's eyes.

"Tease."

"What makes you say that?" Leon asked, eyebrow raised.

"You aren't going to stick to that," he said, eying the other man coldly. "You're messing with me."

Leon snorted. "Cloud, if I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it." He met the light blue gaze with his own grey-blue one.

"Prove it."

And so he did.

"Mom? I'm home-" Xion called, and then ran to her room.

Leon shrugged and went back to planting kisses along Cloud's neck, biting every once in awhile, causing Cloud to let out little whimpers.

That was, until, a foot collided with his ass, causing him to fall foreward onto Cloud and roll onto the floor.

"No sweaty man sex on my couch, Mister," Yuffie said, one hand on her hip, the other pointing to his room. "And I am _not_ washing your sheets."

Leon sighed. "Such a cock block," he muttered, as he grabbed their shirts, pulled Cloud to his room by the belt loop, and kicked his door shut. He smirked up at Cloud. "Now, where were we?"

"Nah, I don't feel like it," Cloud said nonchalantly, shrugging and flopping down on Leon's bed.

_Oh, and I'm the tease? God damn Cloud._ Leon thought, eyebrows twitching downwards in annoyance as he flopped down next to him. "Hey Cloud?"

"What?" He asked, yawning.

"Are you my boyfriend?"

"No."

"Aw, man..." Leon groaned. "Why not?"

Cloud turned his head to face Leon's. "You never asked me to be."

"Oh." Leon said, and looked up at the ceiling. "That makes sense." He frowned. Someone had drawn a dick on his ceiling. He made a mental note to beat Yuffie over the head with Roxas's shoe later.

"So..."

"Huh?"

"You're not going to ask?"

"Hmm, nah. I don't feel like it."

Cloud snorted, pushing Leon's shoulder. "You're a dick, Leon."

"Yeah? Well, up yours, buddy."

"...Maybe later."

Leon scowled, and rolled onto his side so he could sling an arm around Cloud's waist. He was cold. Like always. Cloud was... Cloud was warm, in that way that no one else seemed to be. Sure, people gave off heat, but it didn't feel the same as this. This was... comfortable. And that was that.

A/N: Another really long chapter. 8D

Cleon is hard to write since in Kingdom Hearts Cloud is kinda... yeah. But I'm hoping it worked out? Maybe?

Er, anyways, thanks for reading!


	7. Payback's a bitch, Little Brother

A/N: Warning, this chapter mentions a character not in Kingdom Hearts.

_ It feels like every time I connect with someone, they leave. I don't know why, though, but it seems like the people I can relate to the most are always the ones who leave first. It hurts, it really does, but what can I do about it?_

_ Axel leaves for Radiant Garden tomorrow, and then he's going to be on tour for a couple months. I wonder how he managed to get my letters while on tour? Weird. I'm actually kinda surprised he even writes me letters, considering he probably gets a lot of fan-mail and shit. Though I doubt he reads them._

_ Heartless isn't some ultra popular band. Since they wear masks when preforming, the media doesn't really know who to stalk, even if they did have some interest in them. Axel's stage name is Flurry of Dancing Flames, usually shorted to Flurry, Demyx is Melodious Nocturne, and... well, I'm not sure who their drummer is in person, but they call her the Savage Nymph, or Savage for short. Demyx says she's a bitch._

_ Suits the name, I guess._

Roxas stretched. Demyx had decided he would come to Roxas to cry on, because someone named Zexion called him stupid. Roxas agreed with this Zexion, but dealt with Demyx anyways. During this ordeal, Roxas was actually watching Adventure Time with Sora, the twins' favorite cartoon.

Turns out, it was Demyx and Axel's, too, since somewhere down the line, Demyx had stopped crying and started cuddling as he watched the TV. Axel had suddenly appeared on Roxas's other side, tossing an arm around his shoulders as he, too, cuddled up to Roxas and watched.

Needless to say, when Sora noticed, the first thing he did was snicker. "Momma bear found her little cubs," he teased, which made Roxas realize that he was being latched onto on both sides.

"Shut the fuck up, Sora," Roxas growled. "You're jealous."

"He probably is. Demyx, Sora feels left out," Axel said, gesturing at the brunette. "He might cry if you don't love him too. Twin jealousy and everything."

Demyx gave the most heart-wrenching concerned face he could muster before hopping over to the love seat Sora sat on and cuddling up to the confused brunette.

Roxas moved over, so Axel could bring his legs up around him, and leaned into the red-head's chest, never breaking his focus on the TV.

.

.

.

Three hours later, their Adventure Time marathon ended, and they all groaned.

"Maybe we can find like a Harry Potter Marathon or something?" Axel suggested.

"Hm, nope, doesn't look like it," Sora said, flipping through the channels. "I guess this means we're all gonna have to do something today."

"Lame," Axel said, stretching.

Roxas sat up, doing the same. "I think I'm going to go take a walk and get something to eat, you wanna come with me, Ax?"

"Uh, sure."

Roxas grinned and led the red-head out and onto the streets. Once they had gotten out of sight from the apartment, he sighed, face falling. "I don't want you to go," he said, quietly.

"You'll still be able to talk to me, Rox."

"I know...but...I'll-"

"Don't. I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Though I may not be by your side, as long as you think of me, I'm still here."

Roxas smiled. "You're such a sap, Axel."

Axel glared at the blond, giving him a playful shove.

Roxas stuck his tongue out at the red-head and darted off towards the park. Axel groaned and chased after him, and eventually caught up to him.

"You need to lay off the smokes, bro," Roxas said.

"Did you just..." Axel gasped for breath, "call me bro?"

"Reno?"

Axel shot up, looking around. "Reno's here?" He asked to no one in particular.

That was when Roxas let out the most manly squeal anyone had ever heard and launched himself off the bench in the direction of the sound, before tackling someone to the ground.

Axel stood there confused, staring at the mass of blond spikes and tangled limbs on the ground, and rubbed the back of his neck, mimicking the troubled expression on Leon's face.

Leon wasn't sure if he should save his friend or not, so he stood there, looking on with his eyebrows upturned, frowning, arms crossed over his chest. The way he saw it, punches could be thrown, and he sure as _hell_ wasn't getting punched by either boy.

Roxas untangled himself, and wrapped his arms around the man's waist, pressing his face into the black fabric of the t-shirt he was wearing.

Only to have the taller blond male make a futile attempt at prying Roxas off of him. "Roxas... get the fuck off of me," he growled.

"No! If I let you go, you'll leave again and then I'll have to deal with Sora _alone_ and I'll _die_, Cloud," Roxas said, uncharacteristically emotional as he kept latching onto his eldest brother even as he was repetitively shoved off.

Axel sauntered over, peering at the new, older Roxas laying under the normal one. He nodded in approval. "Well, if Rox looks like that when he's older, I'll have no problems," he said, smirking.

Cloud glared up into green eyes, his own blue ones flashing protectively. "Reno's brother," he said, voice chilled.

Axel raised his eyebrows. "I don't wanna know how you know him," he said, shrugging. "But the name's Axel.-"

"A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" Roxas finished for him, and squeaked and hid his face into Cloud's shirt when Axel glared at him. "It's not my fault you're cheesy and predictable!"

"Yeah, you better hide, squirt," Axel growled out, crossing his arms.

"So, uh, Roxas...what're you doing out here?" Leon asked, eyebrow raised.

"Me and Axel are on a walk," he said, grinning. "Do you guys wanna join us for lunch?"

Leon looked to Cloud who shrugged, and back to Roxas. "Might as well," he said. "Though I suggest letting go of Cloud before you scare him back into hiding. I only just got him out of my room." That morning, he had spent a full half hour trying to push Cloud out of his doorway, because Cloud didn't want to have any accidental run-ins with his family, like currently, because he thought that they would hate him. Which was, of course, complete and utter bullshit, as Leon so elegantly phrased it.

Roxas let go of Cloud, and led the group to a pizza place. "So... Cloud, where've you been?"

He looked anywhere but his little brother and shrugged. "Around."

"He was living with some guy in Wutai," Leon said, earning an elbow from Cloud. "And he's been mooching off me for the last few days."

Roxas frowned. "Leon, are you and Cloud, you know..."

"Fuck no," Cloud said, causing Leon to wince.

"Er, what he _means_ is that I haven't actually asked him out," Leon said. "Because _somebody _is afraid to confront his family."

Cloud looked away. "Says the one who doesn't have one to confront," he growled out.

Axel leaned over to Roxas. "Are they always this grumpy, or do they really need to get laid?" He whispered, earning a smack on the shoulder.

Axel whimpered, rubbing his shoulder and pouting.

._. ._. ._.

"Roxas, I don't think this is a good idea," Cloud said, trying to get out of the smaller boy's hold.

"No, you're not getting out of this. Now get in the apartment. Now."

"Make me."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Alright," he said. "We can play this game, Cloud. I'll just do what I do to Sora, then. Get in that apartment, before I reach three. 1...2..."

"What're you going to do? Put me in time out?"

"...3," he finished, and grinned. He pulled a stick out from behind a plant next to their door, and got into position. "Now you can get in that apartment, or I can bludgeon you with this stick, your choice."

Cloud stared at him.

Roxas kicked him in the groin, and he went down, cursing. He kicked the door open and screamed, "HELP," at the top of his lungs, causing Sora, Demyx, and Axel to come running. He grinned at Sora's confused expression. "Everyone grab a limb, let's get him inside," he said. "Don't ask questions, _move._"

Cloud, of course, cursed and flailed and tried to escape, but was swung onto the couch,(after, of course, having been rammed into a few walls and dropped on his face) which slid back and collided with the living room wall. Cloud groaned, curling up in a ball.

Yuna came running out of the kitchen to yell at them, but stopped when she saw the curled up figure on her couch, letting out a choked noise. "Is that..."

Roxas nodded. Yuna threw herself down next to the couch, throwing her arms around her eldest son's curled up form. "We should...go, guys," Roxas whispered, and they left the two in the living room and piled into Sora's room, which had a direct view of the living room.

"Honey," Yuna said, quietly, drawing back. "Look at me, Cloud."

Cloud rolled over and sat up, looking down at the couch cushions.

"Cloud, look at me," she said, voice shaky. "I'm not mad at you."

He glanced up at her, but kept his head slightly tilted down, making him look like a kicked puppy. Well, thanks to Roxas, he was _kicked._

Yuna let out a sob and threw herself at him, crying into his shoulder. "Why didn't you call? Or send a letter, or something-I was so worried," she said, biting back a sob.

Cloud hesitantly lifted a hand up to pet her head, eyes showing uncertainty. "I—I'm sorry," he said, quietly. "I'm a bad son, aren't I?"

"No, no, honey," she said, pulling away from him. Her green and blue eyes studied him. "You're a wonderful son, you're just really, really, stupid sometimes." She smiled, wiping her tears off. "I've got to tell Yuffie," she said, standing up.

"Uh, she, er, already knows..." Cloud said, flinching. Yuna turned back at him. "I've...uh, been back for a few days..."

"And you went to _Yuffie_ first?" Yuna shrieked, causing him to flinch and look at the floor. "Cloud! What the hell? _I'm _your mom, remember?"

He winced and nodded. "Technically I went to Aerith's first..."

Yuna growled.

"And before that I stopped in to see Tifa," he said, twitting his thumbs as he risked a glance up at her.

She growled and smacked him upside the head lightly. "Idiot," she said, stomping away, back into the kitchen.

Cloud sighed. He glanced over towards Sora's door, which was partially cracked, with four faces watching him, one seemingly on top of the other, Roxas at the lowest level (he was shortest) and Axel at the top. He stood up and walked over to the door, shoving it open and watched them all fall over onto Roxas. He bent down next to him. "Payback's a bitch, little brother," he said, before straightening out and walking away.

"Cloud, please don't leave," Sora said, quietly. "I know you think that you have to prove yourself, and everything, but you don't."

Roxas came out behind him. "And I know you think that if you bottle it all up, it'll go away, but it _won't,_ Cloud. You can't expect it to stop hurting-because it never _will-_"

"-but that doesn't mean you should run away from it all," Sora finished, blue eyes sad. "I may not have been hurt directly by it, but," he said, taking Clouds hand in his. "You guys are my brothers, so when you hurt, _I _hurt, Cloud."

"That was..."

"Oh man, that was deep!" Yuffie said, having suddenly climbing into their window. "Sorry to interrupt this touching interventions, guys, but my microwave just burst into flames."

Leon's enraged scream of "YUFFIE!" was heard. It was so loud, in fact, that the people in the apartment complex down the street actually stopped what they were doing and looked around. Yuffie squeaked and dived under their table.

"Uh, as you were," she said, waving.

The three brothers blinked, stared at her, stared at each other, and then shifted uncomfortably.

"Dinner!" Yuna called, walking out of the kitchen with her hands on her hips. "Yuffie, go apologize to Leon, please, and then you can come over for cake, okay?"

Yuffie raced out of the room, throwing an 'okay!' over her shoulder as she raced to her impending doom.

Yuna shook her head, smiling. "That girl," she said, and then looked up at them. "Well, come on, sit down," she said, smiling warmly.

They all crowded around the table.

"So, Cloud, where you been, man?" Demyx asked, mouth full of food.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Demyx," Yuna said, before taking a bite of her food.

"I was in Wutai," he answered.

"Why where you there?"

Cloud looked away.

"Oh. My. God.," Sora said, and pointed at Cloud. "Mom, he was living with his boyfriend! Why can't _I_ live with my boyfriend?" He asked, pouting.

"I-" Cloud started, before being cut off again.

"_Because,_ Sora, _your _boyfriend doesn't _have_ a home to live in with," Roxas said, earning a stuck out tongue from his twin. "Besides, who would want to live with you?"

Sora pouted. "Lots of people...right Demyx?"

"Yeah! I'd totally live with you, buddy!"

"Demyx, you once lived with a raccoon in a box outside Walmart. I don't think your opinion matters," Axel said, smirking.

Demyx pouted.

Yuna smiled. "Cloud, I wish you would have told me you have a boyfriend, I'd like to meet him."

Cloud flinched. "Well I _don't_ anymore," he said.

"Oh... well, there's other fish in the sea, Cloud."

Cloud grimaced. That saying had always struck a nerve with him.

"Hey mom," Roxas said, grinning. "Guess what!"

"What?"

"Cloud is sweet on-"

Cloud picked up a piece of his sweet-and-sour chicken and chucked it at Roxas, getting it in his mouth.

"Er, as I was saying, Cloud is sweet on-"

Cloud chucked a spoon at his head.

Roxas fell out of his chair, and flopped around like a fish out of water, before dramatically climbing back into his chair. "Cloud is sweet on-" Cloud stood up, and forcibly removed his brother from the room, chair and all. He sat down and continued his meal, like nothing had ever happened.

When he looked up, everyone was staring at him, and he put on the most innocent, saddened face he could muster. Which, for the record, looks like you just _killed_ his puppy. Such a face could bring a grown man to tears.

It was no wonder Sora and Roxas were the masters of getting what they wanted.

Roxas, the persistent devil he was, walked back out and stood on his chair. "Attention, attention. Cloud Jay Strife has the hots for a Mr. Squall Leon Leonhart," he said, in an announcer-like voice. Cloud stood up, cracking his knuckles, and Roxas screamed like a little girl and used his chair as a shield. "Back! Back you beast!"

"I am _never_ giving that kid Monster again," Axel said, shaking his head at the two blonds, a smile dancing across his cat-like features.

"Is _that_ what's wrong with him? I thought maybe him and Sora had switched bodies or something," Yuna said, glancing at the brunette who was completely ignoring everything going on around him, eyes glued to the food he was shoveling into his mouth at break-neck speeds.

"Roxas, put the chair down so I can punch your goddamn face in, you brat!"

Roxas held onto his chair tighter. "Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me!" He said, and threw the chair down and ran off, screaming down the halls of the complex and out the door.

"Uh... I'm going to go get him before he gets hit by a car," Axel said, excusing himself from the table. He jogged out to where he assumed the blond was, finding only Cloud looking up at the wall of the building, looking rather worried.

"Rox...I was kidding!" He said, but Roxas kept climbing up the side of the building, going from window ledge to window ledge.

His foot slipped, and Roxas panicked, bottom half flailing. Axel felt his heart stop as he watched the blond's fingers slowly loosing their grip as sweat made them slick against the smooth concrete of the ledges.

- ._. ._. ._.

A/N: And now you totally hate me because that was the worst place to end a chapter ever.

8D

Also, I wanted to tell you guys that my updates may start to be less fast, as I'm currently working on another fic, Dancers And Dreamers, which is a Zemyx. Check it out, if you're interested.

And I may or may not also be working on a Kaiyuffie/Yuffikai that has yet to leave my draft box on gmail. (The place where all my fanfics are ultimately born -nodnod-)

Thanks for reading! :]


	8. Scarred for Life

_I never thought that I would fall. I'd been climbing these walls since I was tall enough to reach from ledge to ledge-about 6, if I remember correctly-and I've never so much as had my foot slip. So why, now, was I struggling to hold onto the smooth concrete ledge thirty feet up?_

Roxas let out a scream as he fell. _Fuck, I'm going to die_. Were his only thoughts. Wasn't he supposed to have his life flash before his eyes? Not that he was complaining. He didn't really want to remember his whole life right now. He was kinda busy falling head-first to a concrete death right now.

And then a blur of black and white hit him, knocking him off course slightly and from head-first to feet-first, and he plummeted-

-straight into the dumpster.

"Roxas!"

"Rox!"

He lifted up one hand, reaching for the ledge. "I'm okay," he said. He didn't know that he actually was, to be honest, he was kind of feeling a bit numb at the moment, but nonetheless, he said it.

Hands pulled him up by his arm, and another set yanked him out of the dumpster by the armpits and wrapped him into a hug. "God, Rox, you could have _died_," Cloud said into his brother's hair.

Cloud showing anything was strange-him _expressing_ his concerns was even stranger. Forget falling thirty feet off a building, that was what _really_ scared Roxas and put him into shock.

"Hey," Cloud said, quietly. "Can you stand?"

"Y-yeah," Roxas said, and stood up-only to fall over sideways and be caught by Axel. "Or...maybe not..."

"You probably broke something, I mean did you see that fall?"

"No, I was kinda busy worrying about how I'd soon be a splatter on the sidewalk."

"Yeah...what hit you, dude?"

Roxas shrugged, and Cloud spoke up. "That would be Yuffie," he said. "Escaping from Leon's wrath."

"So the only reason I'm alive right now is because Yuffie's stupid?"

Cloud nodded.

Roxas never thought he'd be so thankful for Yuffie's inability to use a microwave. "I guess I should thank her..."

Just then, Yuffie ran by, stopped, pointed at Roxas with narrowed eyes, and ran off. "Stay out of my way, Blondie!" She shouted over her shoulder before turning a corner. Leon ran out a few minutes ago, completely oblivious to the trio which almost became a duo, and chased after her-with a baseball bat.

"Uh...let's get you cleaned up and take you to the hospital, Roxas," Axel said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't really want to be around when the cops start questioning everyone about the murder."

"He won't actually kill her...she's like the little sister he never wanted," Cloud said, shrugging. He picked up Roxas bridal style, earning a slight frown from Axel that he didn't see, and walked into the apartment.

Sora was the first to notice something, and came running over, prodding at his twin who had since fallen asleep because of the trauma. "What happened?" He asked worriedly, looking into Cloud and Axel's eyes.

"Well, Sora, that little doofas fell from twenty feet in the air," Axel said, gesturing at Roxas. "And if it weren't for the resident crazy lady next door and her friend with murderous intent, he would be splattered on the sidewalk right now."

"Ah-is he?"

"He's in shock, and his ankles might be broken, but he is alive, Sora," Cloud answered, glaring at Axel. "Yuffie was escaping from Leon and slammed into him half way down, so he fell in the dumpster feet-first," he clarified.

At this point, Yuna had come out of the kitchen, and checked him over. "His left ankle is sprained, and he probably bruised the bone, but it's not broken. He didn't hit his head, did he?"

Cloud shook his head. "He didn't seem to," he said. "He was talking normally until he went into shock."

"I see. Well, put him on the couch, I'll wrap his ankle," she said, going to the bathroom to get a roll of Ace.

Cloud did as he was told, and went back into the kitchen.

Yuna was a doctor, so obviously she knew what she was talking about when it came to this kind of thing.

- (meanwhile)-

._. ._. ._.

"Xion...are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, don't worry 'bout it, Nami," she said, smiling widely as she put away the fire extinguisher. "This is like, a bi-weekly occurrence around here."

"Oh, I see," she said, biting her lip.

Xion grinned, and kissed the blond on the forehead. "They'll get in a fight, and then she'll give him puppy eyes, and he'll apologize and hug her and they'll come back, best friends."

Namine smiled softly, looking up. Xion smiled back, and kissed her girlfriend.

Just then, something flew past their window with a scream, causing them to jump and look around. A crash was heard, and some yelling they couldn't quite make out. Xion and Namine leaned out the window, seeing a shock of red-Axel,-and then next to the dumpster, blond hair. A hand shot out of the dumpster and Axel ran over and pulled on it, another spiky-haired blond doming out and being lifted by the man Xion suspected to be Cloud, judging by the height. Though he only came up to Axel's shoulders, he was still a good bit taller than Roxas, who only reached the red-head's chest.

A few minutes later, Yuffie ran by, pointed at the trio, and ran off, followed shortly by Leon and his Yuffie-beating-stick. Which was, technically, a baseball bat, but no one bothered to correct Yuffie anymore.

The trio went inside, and Xion shrugged. "Guess Roxas fell out Hayner's window again or something."

"Oh my god, is he okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Xion said, and shoved her thumbs through the loops of her jeans. "So...we've got a while 'til mom and Leon get back..."

"No."

"Aw, why not?" Xion asked, pouting.

"Because, Xion, we've been dating for what, three days?"

"But we've known each other for _years._"

Namine glared at her. Which, for the record, was about as scary as a bunny munching on a carrot. As in, not at all.

Xion sighed, and plopped down on the couch, lazily flailing at the remote which was slightly out of reach. Eventually, she grabbed the table leg and dragged it closer, therefore bringing the remote on top of it into her reach. She turned the TV on and was soon lost in the world of-what the hell is this?

"Xion, what are you watching?"

"Uh, uh, Nami I'm scared," she said, chucking the remote at the TV. "Make it go away," she cried.

Namine bit back a giggle and turned the TV off. Xion sighed in relief. "I take it that _doesn't_ normally happen?"

Xion shook her head, which was still covered with a pillow. "I...am scarred for life," she said in a wilted voice. "I may never be the same again."

"Xion...it was just porn," Namine said, eyebrow raised. "I know you've watched it before."

"Uh-uh," she said, shaking her head. "That wasn't _just_ porn, either."

"Well, it may have been gay porn, but it was still porn, Xi."

"Did you see how? And then...and-I think I'm going to be sick," Xion said, and ran off to the bathroom. She emptied the contents of her (empty) stomach into the toilet.

Meanwhile, Namine shut off the DVD player and turned the TV back on, flipping it to some cooking show with a bleach blond tan guy as the host. He reminded her a bit of a chubbier, tanner version of her uncle Luxord. Except, to Namine's knowledge, the TV host wasn't completely wasted.

Xion brushed her teeth before coming back out, expelling the taste of acid from her mouth. Dry heaving was always her least favorite type of puking. Not that she particularly fond of puking.

"Better?" Namine asked, smiling.

"Much," she said, and sat down next to the blond, resting her head in the girl's lap. Namine idly ran her fingers through the silky black hair. "My only concern is... who's porn was that?"

Namine paused, biting her lip in thought. "I'm going to guess it to be Leon's," she said. "Your mom doesn't strike me as one to enjoy watching two men have sex."

"She isn't... I found her porn stash once," Xion said, wincing. "Most of it was girl on girl."

"That...is mildly disturbing."

"Yeah, 'specially when it's your own mom," she said, shuddering. "Until that point, I always assumed that she was just messing around when she hit on Tifa..."

"I... thought they were sisters, to be quite honest."

Xion laughed, snuggling into her girlfriend's stomach. "If they were sisters, we'd have to move to like... You know, I don't even know where we'd have to move. Probably like...Alantica or something."

"That might prove difficult for you," Namine said, running her fingers lightly over Xion's neck and shoulders and tracing the curves of her waist and hips before moving back to run her fingers through Xion's hair. "And I would certainly miss you, what with you being so far away and all."

"Oh don't worry, Nami, we'd take you with us," she said, looking up at her.

Namine cringed. "But Xion, you know how I feel about mermaids," she said. It was a well known fact between the two that mermaids were one of the few things Namine absolutely despised-apparently she didn't like that they were able to breath underwater without gills.

The other thing, naturally, being messes. Since she'd moved in, she'd made the Kisaragi home spotless-and kept it that way, by some miracle.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing Tifa and Yuffie aren't related, isn't it?"

Namine giggled and nodded, before bending over Xion and pressing her lips to hers. She moved to pull away when Xion's hand's tangled themselves in Namine's hair, bringing her closer. Namine opened her mouth slightly, allowing the kiss to deepen as Xion slowly sat up, straddling her. Xion moved to unbutton Namine's blouse, getting it half way done when suddenly, the door was kicked open.

And, because they live with the world's best cock-block (yes, even for lesbians), it was at that moment that Yuffie walked in, singing 'Don't feel like dancing' by Scissor Sisters at the top of her lungs, Leon following, rubbing his temples.

Leon froze at the sight, rubbed his eyes, and stared at them. Currently, Xion was straddling Namine, who's shirt was partially unbuttoned, exposing her bra, her blond hair mussed. The two girls stared back at him, Namine like a deer in headlights, Xion's stare, however, was one of annoyance.

"What? You never seen two girls making out on a couch before?" Xion asked, brow furrowed.

"Well, sure I have but-Yuffie, are you aware of this?"

"Just leave the poor girls alone, _god_, Leon. Can't you see they're busy?"

Leon looked back at them, and threw his arms in the air, stalking off to his room and slamming the door shut for good measure.

Xion giggled and looked back at the blond beneath her. "So, do you wanna take this to another location, or shall we start where we left off?"

Namine smiled, and shoved the raven-haired girl off her, re-buttoning her shirt. "We'll pick up later, Xion. When your mouth doesn't taste like straight up toothpaste."

Xion frowned. "I liked your shirt that way, Nami," she said, pouting.

Namine rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you did, Xion, but I'm not walking around exposed like that just so you can look at my breast."

"Aw, man," Xion said, snapping. "I thought you'd totally go for it, too."

Namine shook her head, smiling gently. "You're so silly, Xion."

"So...if I eat a cookie or something, can we...you know...?"

"Is that all you ever think about?"

"Well...no, I think about normal girl stuff too...like...unicorns and cupcakes. You know. The use."

Namine rolled her eyes. "What a man, Xion. If I didn't know better, I swear."

"Whatever. Get back in the kitchen, woman."

"Go work on your car, _man._"

"You wrecked it with your bad driving, woman."

Namine had _not_, in fact, wrecked Xion's car. Xion didn't even have a car. "I don't have anymore comebacks," she admitted, after a long pause.

"HA! MAKE ME A SAMMICH, BETCH!" Xion said, pointing.

Namine shook her head, giggling slightly. "You don't even like sandwiches, Xi." It was true; Xion didn't. She couldn't stand the chewing necessary to consume a sandwich. Though she did, however, enjoy dinner rolls like no other. Namine had yet to figure that one out.

Xion grinned. "If I said that to any other girl, she would probably get mad and leave."

"Oh, I was just going to go get my shoes," Namine teased.

"Oh yeah right, Nam, you know you love me."

"Even if you are a crazy sexist man," Namine said, grinning.

"Do we have to go over this again, Namine? I'm not a man," she said, pulling her shirt off. "See these? Genuine, 100% female breast," she said, gesturing to her chest.

At that exact moment, the door slammed open, yet again, to reveal none other than Cloud. Cloud froze at the sight of Xion, shirtless and sitting on the couch, opened his mouth and closed it again before shaking his head and closing the door again. Xion stared at the door for a second and looked back at Namine. "So, as I was saying-"

"Xion, put your shirt back on," Namine said, walking forward and shoving the thing over Xion's head. Xion pouted but forced her arms through the armholes nonetheless. Namine walked to the door, and opened it. "Cloud, I'm sorry about that," she spoke. "You're welcome to come in, now. Leon is in his room."

"Uh...thank you, Namine," Cloud said. "Er, sorry for...interrupting whatever you were doing, Xion."

"Oh don't worry about it, Cloud, I was just proving my womanhood."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to-nevermind," Cloud said, shaking his hand and rushing down the hall, briefly knocking on Leon's door before letting himself in without waiting for a response.

Namine narrowed her eyes at Xion. "Do _not_ get any ideas from that, Xion. Your pants stay _on_."

"I don't wanna be wearing pants when we do it," Xion complained.

"You know what I meant, Xion. Now quit complaining and go to the room. I'll be in in a moment," she said, one hand on her hip as she pointed in the direction of Xion's room.

Xion's face lit up.

"To _sleep._"

Xion's face promptly fell, as she trudged off to her room, shoulders slumped.

"BE A MAN, XION!" Yuffie yelled from her room. "Don't take that from her!"

Xion stared into her mom's door. "I feel like you're supposed to discourage such actions in your daughter, mom."

Yuffie paused. "Oh. Well uh, getter done," she said.

Xion stared.

"No? Fine...god, you're _so _whipped, Xion," Yuffie said, shaking her head. "You and Leon, I tell yah..."

"Ew, mom, that's disgusting," she said, scowling and walking into her room.

Namine sighed and followed Xion into the room, closing the door behind her.


	9. Ninja Stars

_Axel left the next morning. I didn't really know what to do, so I just kinda sat on the couch and stared at the wall the whole day. I didn't even go to the train station with them. Eventually, Sora had to drag me into my room, and decided to pass out in my bed because he was worried about me. _

_ For the next two weeks, I didn't really do much. Sora dragged me around with him when he went out with Kairi and Riku, and Kairi kept trying to flirt with me but... after blankly staring at her she gave up. Axel would have made jokes and called me a zombie, and shoved my shoulder. _

_ I guess...I just really missed him, you know?_

"Roxas!"

Roxas opened one indigo eye, the other covered by his arm. "What?"

"You got a letter!"

Roxas felt his eyes widen. He took the beige envelope out of Sora's hands and scanned it. The same, chicken-scratch that he'd come to love over the years. He smiled softly, which faded quickly when he glanced up at Sora, still hovering over him. "What do you want? Leave me be," he said, slamming his hand into his twin's forehead.

"I wanted to see it, too."

"Well... we'll see," he said, with narrowed eyes and opened the envelope. There were two separately folded papers. One had SORA written in what looked suspiciously like red crayon, and the other had Roxy written neatly in black ink. Roxas tossed Sora's at his face and unfolded his own.

_"Hey, Sora,_

_ Your brother must not have found that letter, he never called. Mehhhh. Anyways, Demyx says hi. We got home and found a kitten in our apartment, so he's been going crazy since. Apparently Zexion got lonely or something, though he claims it was Larxene's idea of a prank. Whatevs. Anyways, write __me back, yo!_

_-Axel_

Roxas frowned, and snatched the letter in Sora's hands away before the brunette managed to unfold it properly-Axel had some complex folding skills with his letters, they were in the shape of squares so they fit side-by-side in the envelope. "Axel's a dumbass and mislabeled them. This is yours." He explained as he handed the letter he'd just read to his twin.

_ Dear Roxas,_

_ I wrote you a letter before I left, it's on your desk. I dunno if you read it and just ignored it, but uh, if not, go read it. If you did just ignore it...why? I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I'm sorry if I did... I miss you. Love, Axel Ethons._

Roxas frowned, and hopped off his bed and walked over to his desk. Sure enough, there was a piece of lined paper folded into a ninja star. Roxas could see the pen marks on the other side of the paper, red ink. He grinned, and carefully unfolded the paper.

_Roxxxxxxxyyyyyyyyyyyy!_

_ If you're reading this, me and Demyx already ran the fuck away. Srsly. Uh, no...anyways, You were kinda, asleep when we left, and we didn't really feel right waking you up after what happened yesterday, so...yeah. We just kinda left you. But don't be mad or anything, okay? _

_ Uh, anyways, call me, buddy. I know for a fact that my number is in your phone. Unless you delete it after I leave... which you shouldn't because I'm totally sexy and you love me. Uh. _

_ Ciao!_

_ PS. Look in the bottom of your sock drawer, buddie. :)_

Roxas stared. How had this been here the entire time? God, did he feel stupid now. He sighed, and waved away the guilt, walking over to his sock drawer. He needed socks anyways.

And, at the bottom of the drawer was an envelope. Roxas took it out and opened it. Inside was two train tickets, and a slip of paper that said: _Okay, me and Demy visited you, now you visit us! Only fair, right? Bring Sora or your mom or Cloud or whoever, as long as they're down with being stuck on a tour bus with a bunch of stinking guys for a month. Oh, and Larxene. She smells like flowers though, cause her boyfriend is all flowery and shit. Uh. Anyways. Get to it, bitch!_

Roxas grinned. He glanced at the tickets. They left...tomorrow. Roxas panicked and flailed. "SORA!"

"What?"

"We're going on tour for a month! Pack your bags, fat ass!" He said, grabbing a suitcase and stuffing the entire contents of his dresser (skinny jeans, t-shirts, socks, boxers) into it. He flailed and threw his brother out of his room, panicking.

That form of panicking was lovingly named the "Roxas is packing" dance, which alarmed Yuna and Cloud.

"Where do you think you two are going?"

"Axel."

"Uh...no."

Roxas swung around to look at his mother, eyes wide. "Yes."

"Rox...you can't just up and leave and take Sora."

"Why not?"

"Does he even _want _to go?"

"Sure he does!"

"No I don't!" It was a commonly known fact that Sora got extremely carsick.

Roxas's face melted into a pout. "B-but who am I gonna take?"

"Why don't you ask Xion?"

Roxas blanched. He hadn't spoken to Xion since she broke up with him. "I, uh..."

"Xion won't go. She's got to work," Cloud spoke up. "Why don't you just go yourself?"

"B-but there's two tickets."

"Well...I hear that Aerith was meaning to go to Radiant Garden," Yuna said. "She doesn't have to go on tour with you, does she?"

"Well...no, but how's she gonna get back?"

"How are _you_ going to get back?" Cloud asked, eyes narrowed.

"Uh. I don't know... I think I'll probably just leave when they come to Twilight Town."

Cloud nodded, but his eyes still shown skeptically.

Soon after, the two left and Roxas went back into his state of panic, looking for his phone. Which, for some reason, was in a box filled with random crap under his bed. He hadn't even known about said box until then, but he shrugged it off and kicked the box under his bed, scrolling through his contacts. He found Axel (under sexy) and pressed call.

**"Hel-dammit, Demyx, get off me-lo?"**

"Hey, Sexy," Roxas said, grinning.

**"Hey yourself, cutie," **Axel said, chuckling. Roxas heard a loud crash come from the other end. "**Damn it, Demyx! What the fuck do you want?"** _"Why don't you love me?"_

Roxas snickered. Classic Demyx.

**"Anyways, ignoring the freak, what's up Roxy? You never called."**

"I, uh, didn't find the ninja star on my desk until I got your letter in the mail today...which, by the way, you wrote the wrong names on the letters."

Axel cursed. **"Er, sorry 'bout that... so...are you gonna come down here?"**

Roxas grinned. "Yeah, I am. I'll be there tomorrow. No one will come with me though, is it okay if I give the other ticket to my mum's friend so she can visit her friends there?"

**"Yeah, sure, Rox. Sora won't go with you?"**

"Nah, he gets carsick real bad," Roxas said, frowning. "He can't even ride in a car without feeling sick."

**"That's lame," **Axel said, sighing. **"Well, I gotta go. Demyx just got mauled by a puma."**

"Oh...alright. Well, I'll see you tomorrow night, then," Roxas said, confused.

**"Bye Roxy!" **Axel said, and hung up.

Roxas sighed, closing his phone as he laid back on the bed. Tomorrow, he would be on his way to a place he'd never been. To see someone he still barely knew. And, of course, Demyx, but still. He didn't know the other two at _all._

Radiant Garden is nearly twice the size of Twilight town. Axel and Demyx would be the only two he could depend on...he'd be so far from everyone he'd known all his life.

Well, except Demyx.

Roxas shook his head. He should go tell Yuffie he was leaving, so she wouldn't think pirates stole him like last time he went on vacation.

He knocked on the door before entering. Last time he'd entered without knocking, he'd walked in on his brother getting a blow job from Leon. That was something he could live without ever seeing again, he'd decided, and vowed to knock first.

"Roxas?"

Roxas froze. "Xion," he glanced at the couch. Xion was sitting there, watching food network with a blond girl. She always did have a thing for blonds with blue eyes. He plastered a smile on his face. "Where's your mom?"

Xion glanced around. "MOM! Roxas brought you a cute boy!"

Yuffie scrambled out from-the vents? Roxas didn't want to know-and scowled. "Liar!"

"Er, sorry, Yuffie. No cute boys today," he said, shrugging. "I just came here to tell you I'm...uh, going on vacation for a month, so you don't do what you did last time I left."

Yuffie blinked. "Oh. Alright, Roxas. Does Cloudie know?"

"Yeah...he already knows," he said, fidgeting. "Uh, so... bye. Nice to see you, Nami, Xion."

"Bye Roxas! Have fun on your trip," Xion said, face filled with confusion.

"Where are you going, Roxas?" Namine asked, eyes concerned.

"Um...Radiant Garden..." He said, grinning nervously.

"Oh, you're visiting Demyx?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Say hello to Larxene for me," Namine said, smiling sweetly. "She's not so bad."

Roxas blinked. "How do you know her?"

"She's my sister, Roxas. Did you forget?"

"Oh," he said, shrugging. "Guess it slipped my mind."

She smiled. "Have fun on your trip, Roxas."

"Uh...yeah, I will. Thanks, Nami." Roxas said, grinning as he went through the door.

A/N: Oh jeebus. I'm sorry for the sudden lack of updates for a few days. XD You forgive me, right? Well if you don't, sucks for you I guess.

Updates may be a little slower, 'cause yeah. Two other stories up and running to write. XD

Dancers and Dreamers should be updated tonight/tomorrow. As for Olive Juice...yeah I dunno. Haven't gotten around to starting the second one. I'm lazy, don't shoot me.

Thanks for reading!


	10. Self Defense Shoe

_As soon as I stepped off the train, I was lost._

_ I didn't see __**anything**__ familiar, and Aerith was swept away by the crowd in mere seconds. I was lost, surrounded, and in a completely different world from what I was used to. Naturally, I panicked and started running._

They found him curled up behind a trash can, hyperventilating. Roxas looked up into an amber eye and backed away-that color was _not_ normal. The eye-patch and scar running down his cheek did _not_ help make him look harmless, either.

The man's hand wrapped around his wrist and Roxas screamed bloody murder, whipping off his shoe and beating the man's hand with it. The man cussed and pulled his hand away, cradling it in a way that reminded Roxas of Demyx.

"God, kid, they didn't tell me you were rabid," the guy said, scowling. Roxas flinched. The man smiled and held out a hand. "C'mon, they're just over there, we've been looking for you, short-stack."

Roxas growled lightly. He did _not_ just call him short. He chucked his shoe at the taller man's head, but he dodged it and his shoe went flying to hit someone else in the back of the head, causing a familiar yelp.

"Is that? Yeah, that's Roxas's shoe. Xiggy musta found him," Axel said, picking up the shoe that'd just flew into the back of his head. He glanced around and spotted Xigbar cornering something by the trashcan. He sauntered over and pulled the skunk-haired man away. "Down boy," he said, and pulled Roxas into a hug. "What the fuck were you doing, Rox? I thought someone snatched them a Blondie," he said, ignoring Roxas' flailing arms and garbled protests.

Roxas shoved the red-head away, glaring at the floor. "I can defend myself," he said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I'll say," the man from earlier said. "That goddamn shoe broke skin," he said, showing Axel his hand, which had two small holes in it.

Axel flipped over the shoe he'd been holding. Two nails stuck through the sole, just enough to hurt when hit with, but not enough to hamper Roxas' ability to walk. "Hope you got your shots, Xigbar," he said, before handing Roxas his shoe. The kid might have been short, but he wore huge shoes.

Roxas put his shoe back on, glaring at Xigbar. The man shrunk back slightly, and Roxas smiled. "Axel, who is he?"

Axel shrugged. "Some guy, it's not important," he said, wrapping an arm around Roxas's shoulders and leading him out of the train station.

"Hey! Axel! Not cool, dude. Not cool!" Xigbar shouted. "Yeah, walk away! See who helps you find your fuck buddies next time."

Axel pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's my friend who I happen to enjoy fucking, not my fuck buddy, Xigbar." He yelled back.

Roxas' elbow mysteriously found itself in Axel's stomach.

Axel whined, rubbing the injured spot. "I didn't mean nothin' by it," he said, pouting. "I was just being politically correct..."

"No, you weren't."

Axel pouted. "Fine, I was correcting the lesser beings. Happy?"

"Am I going to have to see _that_ for a month?" Roxas said, head jerking slightly towards Xigbar.

"Thankfully, no. He's just my neighbor."

Roxas cringed. "You better have a lock on your door," he said.

Axel looked at the blond and burst into laughter. "What self respecting adult _doesn't_ have a lock on their door?"

"Sora."

Axel grimaced. "Knowing Riku...that's a bad thing."

Roxas nodded. "Sometimes they don't even _shut_ the door," he said, shuddering. He'd seen way more of his brother's boyfriend than he'd needed to in the past two years. Not to say Riku wasn't attractive, but...ew. He didn't need to see that. "Cloud and Leon are worse, but at least they're at Yuffie's apartment."

"So, uh, wanna go do it with the door open?" Axel asked.

"Fuck no," he said, frowning. "Demyx would probably join in," he said. "And I'm not into that."

Axel laughed. "Yeah, he totally would," he said. "Although I'm sure Rokudem is hot, I'm partial to Akuroku, myself."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing.

"Uh, well..."

"I prefer Rokushi, personally."

Axel flinched. "Dude you couldn't even get it up with her," he said, preparing for shoe-related injury.

"Could too," he said, frowning.

Axel snorted. "Yeah, and you totally _don't_ get hard making out with certain red-heads," he said, smirking.

"Kairi? No way, dude. I don't wanna go near that," Roxas said. "Pretty sure both Sora _and _ Riku tapped that somewhere along the line."

"Hey! That's my sister!" Axel said, frowning. "She's not a-okay, well she might have done Riku on my bed before, but still..."

"She did Sora," he paused. "And Namine, and Xion, and Hayner, and Seifer, and...maybe Olette, I'm not really sure though. They might have just made out."

Axel let out a low whistle. "Guess she's pretty popular, eh?"

Roxas snorted. "You could say that."

"So...Roxas."

"Why do you bother asking if you already know the answer, Axel?" Roxas said, bored.

"Uh... I was going to ask if you liked Pizza, but okay," he said, eyebrow raised.

"Everyone likes pizza, Ax."

"No! Riku doesn't!"

"Riku is excluded from the word 'everyone' because I don't like him."

"He's kinda scary," Axel agreed, nodding. "And have you _seen_ those biceps? Flippin' huge, man."

"Leon's are bigger."

"Yeah, you would know," Axel said, earning an elbow to the gut. He dragged Roxas up to a small house. "Home sweet home," he said, grinning.

The house was small, tan, and brick. Roxas openly stared at it. "You...live in a house."

Axel hesitantly nodded. "Yeah..? You got a problem with that, Roxy?"

"You...have a yard."

"Uh, yeah..?"

Roxas stared up at him in awe. Even in Destiny Islands, yards were fairy tales-because there, you had a house and a small 4x4 patch with a tree on it on either side of the door and then sidewalk. In Twilight Town, he lived in an apartment. In Atlantica, they had ocean right outside their doorstep.

"Ooookay, then. Uh, now go through the door and you can meet our resident bitch and Zexion," Axel said, shoving the blond towards the open door.

"Who the fuck is the twelve year old?"

Roxas glanced around.

"Yes, dumb ass, I mean _you._ What the fuck, Axel? Didn't we tell you, _no more strays_?"

Axel stared at the blond at the table, imagining her antennae like hair bursting into flames. It didn't. "Larxene, this is Roxas. Demyx's cousin. He's _nineteen._ You know, as in six years younger than you?"

Larxene's eye twitched. "You did not just imply that I was old," she said, setting her glass down on the counter before launching herself over the counter and tackling the redhead. "Take it back!"

"Run, Roxas! Call the cops!" Axel screeched, dramatically flailing as the blond chomped down on his ear, viciously tearing at it.

Roxas looked on, amused.

"Roxas?" A voice called, quietly. Demyx came bounding over. "Roxas! You're alive! Oh my gosh, it's been _ages._"

"It's been two weeks, Demyx," he responded into the mull-hawked man's chest.

Demyx ignored him, swinging gently. "We're going to have so much fun," he said. "We're gonna get on the bus and go _everywhere_ and eat cool food and get food poisoning and go to the hospital because you ate the food on the floor even though Zexy told you not to, and then we get back in the bus and Zexion doesn't talk to you because he doesn't like associating with imbeciles but then he gets drunk and forgets he's mad and fucks you into the mattress and then it's all better in the morning because he's really cuddly when he's hungover."

"Uh...tmi, Demyx,"Roxas mumbled. He suddenly didn't want to be here anymore. If Demyx was anywhere near as vocal as Roxas thought he was, he dreaded the events following Demyx's stupidity.

"Demyx, I would like it very much if you didn't discuss our sex life with everyone you see," said a calm voice from behind Demyx. Demyx jumped and released Roxas and latched onto a slate-haired boy only a few inches taller than Roxas. "Hello, Roxas. My name is Zexion. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, smiling lightly and holding out a hand.

Roxas shook the hand. "Yeah, you too," he said, returning the smile. He had a feeling he would get along with Zexion as long as he kept his cousin occupied.

Zexion glanced over at the current Larxene attack, and shook his head. "She's really nice, if you don't provoke her," he explained. "Unfortunately, Axel and Demyx seem to do nothing _but_ provoke the poor girl."

"Oh," he said, somehow not doubting that. "I guess I can't blame her."

"Don't take her side!"

"Axel, shut up. He can take my side. It is, after all, the better one," Larxene said, smirking as she slinked away from the redhead and over to the blond. She placed one manicured red fingernail under Roxas's chin and lifted it up to look at her. "Well, well. Aren't you a cutie? It's too bad you're gay, I'd do you," she said, giving him a once over. "If you ever decide to question your sexuality, I'm always open for some one-on-one playtime."

Roxas stared blankly at her. "I'm not gay," he said.

Axel growled, batting at the blond woman and latching onto Roxas possessively. "Mine," he said, hissing and scratching the air.

Roxas frowned. "Get off me, Axel," he said, even though his body was telling him to lean into the redhead and soak up the warmth.

Axel pouted and let the blond go. "It's not like you can deny it," he said. "You came out to your mom as gay, _remember?_ 'Cause I do. I was there. We were eating spaghetti."

Roxas stared at him for a second before remembering. "Oh yeah, she was all 'I already knew that,' and you laughed at me," Roxas said, pouting.

"Atta boy, Roxy," Axel said, smiling. "Now that we've sorted that out, why don't I show you my room?"

"Axel, you're not getting into my pants right now," he said, glaring at the redhead. "I'm not drunk enough."

"Well...we could fix that," Axel said, smirking.

"I'd rather you didn't get him drunk within the first fifteen minutes of being here," Zexion said, blank-faced. "In fact, I'd much rather not be a witness to you raping the poor boy."

"It's not rape if he wants it, Zex."

"If he's intoxicated, it counts. I would rather not deal with legal bigots anytime soon."

Roxas rubbed his temples. "Axel, shut the fuck up and take me to your room before I get sick of you and kill you," he said.

"I like this kid, Axel," Larxene said, smiling slightly. "Hey, Zexion, what do you say we replace fire-crotch here with the boy and have a trio of blonds?"

"That's a _fabulous_ idea, Larx. Replace the singer and have three blonds when _no one sees our hair_ anyways," Axel said, eyes narrowed.

"Larxene, shut up. Axel, Roxas, go away. Demyx, go order pizza," Zexion ordered, mimicking Roxas' action of rubbing his temples.

Larxene rolled her eyes, but obeyed. Roxas was led down a hall and into a room, while Demyx...bothered Zexion anyways.

Roxas looked around the room Axel led him to. It was...red. The walls, carpet, even the windows were red. "I see you, uh, got to choose your paint."

Axel looked around. "Oh. Uh, you could say that."

Roxas set down his suitcase and jumped up on Axel's bed, and sat there staring at the red-head. He was wearing a black wife-beater and tan cargo pants, his red hair in it's usual unruly spikes. Roxas held his arms out to the redhead, flailing slightly to get his attention. Axel smirked and wrapped his arms around the blond boy's waist, his forehead resting against the other's.

"Hey there," Axel said, smirking.

"Hey," he said, grinning widely. He let his eyes close, sighing contently before opening them again. "How are you?"

Axel grunted in response and leaning into the smaller boy, pushing him back so that Axel could half-lay on him. "Cold, tired."

Roxas ran one hand through the red spikes, humming lightly. "I dunno how you can be cold, you're like a fucking heater."

Axel grinned against Roxas' neck. "Maybe I just wanted you to hold me, because I've had a bit to drink," he said.

"Have you really? It's like nine in the morning, dude."

"Nah, I'm just messin' with ya."

"Dumb ass," Roxas said.

Axel hummed in response. "I am really fucking tired though. Can I just sleep on you until next year?"

"Uh, no, not if you plan on getting laid anytime soon."

Axel sighed in response and rolled off him, but kept his arms firmly wrapped around the blond. "I'm tireddddd," he whined.

"Then go to sleep, fucktard."

"You gotta sleep with me," he said, pouting.

"I didn't think I had a choice," Roxas said, rolling onto his side and cuddling into the red-head. He was tired too-he wasn't used to getting up before noon, and his body was flipping out from getting up at six-thirty to catch a train. "Now shut up and go to sleep, fire-crotch"

"Whatever, you like it."

"I don't like red-heads," Roxas said, grinning.

"Aw, don't be like that," Axel said, pouting. "I know you like me."

Roxas grinned into the red-head's chest. "You're the only exception to that rule," he said. "But only 'cause you're in a band, you know."

"Psh, whatever. You didn't even know until I told you, loser."

"Whatever, dork."

"Shut up, nerd."

"No you shut up, hipster."

"Bitch please, I ain't no hipster."

"Aw hell naw, you ain't callin' me a hipster, bitch."

"Hey Rox?"

"Yeah, Ax?"

"I don't think we're gonna get any sleep," he said.

"Yeah, me neither. Wanna make out?"

"Yeah, sure."

A/N: I'm a bad person. 8D

Also, I'm sorry if there's some large spelling error in here, my spell check on this computer doesn't work. D: But I'm too lazy to switch to my laptop, so you're just going to have to deal I guess.

Thanks for reading!


	11. A Day in the Life of Leon Leonhart

_I was being toyed with. I knew that. But did that actually stop me? _

_ Fuck no._

_- ._. ._. ._._

Cloud was the first to wake up most days-he had always been an early riser. Yuna had offered him Roxas's room-his old room, actually-but he had turned down her offer. He had grown accustomed to sleeping next to another-it had become troublesome not to. He'd never admit it aloud, but he truly did love curling up next to another person, basking in their warmth.

So Cloud spent most of his nights with Leon. They occasionally would do things other than sleeping-but it was more of a favor system than anything. Leon was, in Cloud's eyes, his best friend. He didn't want a relationship-Sephiroth had instilled the notion that a relationship implied being chained to beds, whipped, beaten.

Which is exactly why Cloud left the silver haired man. Not only was Sephiroth abusive, sadistic, and manipulative; the man was also nearly twice Cloud's age. It hadn't always been that way; at the start Sephiroth had been relatively friendly. After a few years, the man had turned into a monster; it was then that he started to mess with Cloud.

At first it had only been simple mind games. Then, it evolved into torturing the blond mentally, which soon turned to physical abuse and rape. Cloud wouldn't deal with bullshit like that, so he did...well, something he wouldn't tell anyone about and came back home.

At least, that was Leon's understanding of it. The blond had surely left out a few details-who wouldn't?-though Leon wasn't able to tell what exactly had happened in the end. He just hoped that Cloud would come out of his rut soon-try as he might, Cloud couldn't hide the feelings in his eyes.

Nor could he hide the nightmares, which turned into panic attacks in the middle of the night. Occasionally Cloud would have them during the day, though Leon wasn't sure what triggered them. He hadn't really known this Sephiroth character-other than he resembled a slightly older Riku. Which was probably why Cloud refused to go near his family's apartment if Sora was around, as his brother's boyfriend resembled someone who had caused him a lot of pain.

Leon had thought that was the case, until of course he walked out of his room to see Riku and Cloud chatting (well, if you could call it that. Neither boy really did the whole 'conversation' thing) over a cup of coffee in Yuffie's kitchen. Leon paused a minute, assessing the situation-why was Riku here?-before realizing that the two were now staring blankly at him.

Leon looked down. Good, he had remembered clothing today. He looked back up at the pair, confused. "What?"

Riku snorted and went back to his coffee-cocky bastard-whilst Cloud continued to stare at the brunette blankly.

Leon scowled. "What, Cloud? Do I have to have some sort of license to be in my own goddamn kitchen?"

Cloud stared at him.

Leon stared back at him, scowling. He would win this. The brunette poured himself a mug of coffee, not once looking away from the round blue eyes that were trying to burn holes in him. Well if the blond was going to try that, he would burn holes right back.

"You...uh, might want to wash your face, Leon," Riku said, calmly taking a sip of his coffee.

Leon cursed. He had forgotten to lock his door last night, hadn't he? With a groan, he went into the bathroom, cursed loudly, and screamed his roommate's name, kicking Yuffie's door down and grabbing the Wutai girl into a headlock.

Yuffie, naturally, was laughing her ass off as Xion was put into a headlock by her closest friend. Leon growled and released the terrified girl and lunged at Yuffie, only to smash into the wall.

Which, after an hour, resulted in Yuffie tackled to the ground, arms twisted behind her back in Xion's room, Namine looking down at the two with terrified eyes as she held a shirt up to her bare chest. Not that anyone was looking.

Well, Yuffie might have been.

"I swear it wasn't me! I swear to god-no, I swear on the Kisaragi name that it wasn't me!" She said, squirming under the much larger person.

"Then who the fuck was it?" Leon growled, paying no mind to the shocked blond before him.

"I...don't know!" Yuffie screamed, as her arm was twisted tighter. Leon growled, and she whimpered. "I swear I was talking to Xion the entire time!"

Leon let the Wutai woman go, pushing off the floor and storming back into the kitchen, where Riku was still sitting with Cloud, who was once again staring at him. Riku glanced up at the brunette. "Thought I told you to wash your face?"

Leon let out a growl and tackled the silver haired boy, who laughed and fought back as the brunette attempted to maul him.

"Chill out, dude. It's not like I used Sharpies or anything," the boy said, wiping his hand on Leon's face. "See? Eyeliner."

This did not, however, stop Leon from trying to punch Riku in the face. Riku was lucky that book came hurtling out from nowhere and into the brunette's head.

Leon grumbled and threw the book back in the direction it came from, effectively hitting Xion in the face with it. Xion threw her hands up in the air and stormed into her room, muttering about how she hadn't even done anything.

With a small sigh, Cloud got up from the table and shoved the brunette into a chair, scrubbing at his face with a wet dishtowel. Leon crossed his arms and pouted the entire time, shooting glares at the silverette who casually leaned against the counter still sipping coffee.

"Why are you even here?" Leon eventually asked, frowning. They silverette and him weren't mortal enemies or anything-they could be classified as friends, even. But Riku just didn't hang around here without Sora. That made Leon highly wary of the boy.

Riku shrugged. "Namine's my friend, and so is Xion," he said. It was a well known fact that though neither would admit it, Riku and Yuffie were rather close-in that sibling-like way where they tried to kill each other at every turn. "Besides, Sora suggested that I be friends with _all_ of his family, and Cloud tends to...be here."

Leon grunted as Cloud scrubbed at the eyeliner stash a bit rougher than before. He glanced into ice blue eyes and looked away quickly, seeing the determination in the blond's eyes. Cloud was in one of _those_ moods again. Leon inwardly sighed. He hated those moods. They always seemed to result in Cloud going to Tifa's and making Leon deal with Yuffie's stupidity on his own.

As if on cue, Cloud set down the towel and nodded to Riku before glancing at Leon. "I'm going to Tifa's. I probably won't come home tonight."

Which Leon translated into: 'I'm going to go drink myself into a stupor, fuck Tifa into the mattress, and pass out. See you tomorrow.' "Yeah, see you," Leon said, with a small nod of his head. The blond tossed a wave over his shoulder as he left the apartment. Leon sighed and buried his head in his arms.

"You know, if that bothers you so much, why don't you just tell him?" Riku said, as if telling people you were wicked jealous of their other lovers was the easiest thing in the world.

Leon glanced up at the man. "'Cause it doesn't bother me," he replied.

Riku rolled his eyes and set his cup down on the counter, pushing himself off of it and leaning over the table. "If it doesn't bother you, why are you so pissed off?"

"'Cause your face," Leon responded intelligently, burying his own face back into his arms.

"C'mon. Don't fuck around, Leon," he said, scoffing. "We all know my face has nothing to do with your boy troubles. No grow a pair and tell Cloud to keep it in his pants."

Leon shoved on hand into the silver-haired boy's face, pushing him away. "I don't wanna."

"Okay, but when Cloud decides to get with Tifa, and then _marries_ her, don't come crying to me, you wimp."

Leon scowled. "He's not going to marry Tifa. Yuffie is."

Riku stared at the brunette before walking away, deeming Leon to be a lost cause.

- ._. ._. ._.

A/N: Sorry for uh...not updating. D:

I got caught up in other things...like usual. Also, starting school on Tuesday, which means less updates as I'm also going to be working on a couple cosplays and maybe homework if I feel like being a good student. Uh.

Thanks for reading! 8D


	12. Lost in Lady's Lingerie

_I'm...scared, to say the least. I never thought that I would be in another town away from my family. I've never been away from Sora for more than two days-he is my twin, after all. And right now...it's been a week. Tomorrow, we leave to go on tour, so I was sent out to get...'stuff' with Larxene, by orders of Zexion._

_ Larxene and I had kind of a love-hate relationship so far. Today was one of those days in which it leaned more towards hate,considering how she just up and left me in the middle of Walmart. Which, by the way, was nearly thirty miles from their apartment, in case you were wondering._

_ So an hour and a half later, my phone rung and I cried a 'thank you lord' as I dropped to my knees in front of the women's langerie-shut up, I was looking for Larxene-and pulled out my phone, practically sobbing when I heard Zexion's voice._

_._. ._. ._._

"Roxas? Where are you? Larxene is already back."

"She left me! I spent the whole time looking for her ass!" Roxas said.

Zexion made an annoyed noise, and Roxas could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose on the other end of the phone. "You're still at Walmart? Stay there-stay _in_ the building, and I'll send someone to come get you, alright?"

"Ah-okay, I'll uh, stay where I am?"

"Where are you now?"

"Sitting on the floor of the women's langerie section..."

If Roxas hadn't known better, he would have thought he heard Zexion snort. "Alright. The person I'm sending has long pink hair," he said.

"Alright. Long pink hair. Got it," Roxas said, and they said their goodbyes. He flipped his phone closed and fiddled with the cuffs of his dark blue skinny jeans.

Ten minutes later, he looked up into another person's face. Roxas squeaked and scooted back. The person before his was, in fact, a man-though the face and hair would suggest otherwise. "Hello, Roxas," the man said, smiling slightly. "It's nice to meet you. I am Marluxia."

Roxas nodded slightly. He had expected-well, a woman. And he'd gotten...well...he was pretty sure it was a guy. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but...are you a guy or a girl?"

Marluxia blinked, and then smirked. "Why don't you check yourself?"

Roxas blanched. "Uh...no thanks."

The smirk morphed into a smug look as the man pulled Roxas up and led him out to a car. "Get in, please. I have other errands to attend to than babysitting the likes of you," he said.

Roxas was suddenly reminded of Larxene. He shrugged and got into the car, buckling the seatbelt as Marluxia slid in and started the car. "So how do you know Zexion?"

Marluxia glanced over at him through the corner of his eyes, then back to the road. "I'm appalled, really," he said. "They never mentioned me? I'm the one who works out all the kinks for them-keep the media at bay and make sure no one sees what's under the mask, you know."

"I thought Zexion did that?"

Marluxia shook his head. "Zexion handles the events, the money-he's the one who schedules things and manages the funds, thus why he's the manager. I'm in charge of the people," he explained. "I'm also Larxene's fiance."

Roxas choked a little. "You? But you're so-"

Marluxia smiled. "Looks can be decieving, Roxas. Remember that."

Roxas nodded. "I guess so," he said quietly once he realized that Marluxia was driving and probably hadn't seen the nod.

The rest of the ride was spent in awkward silence. When they arrived at the house, Demyx came running out and tackled the blond boy to the ground, sobbing some nonesense about Roxas dying. Roxas shoved his cousin off, and went inside, storm cloud following behind him. Larxene waved at him, to which Roxas responded with a middle finger, and, because Larxene was in a good mood today, lived.

After getting in a fight with Axel's door and having the redhead have to open the door, Roxas flopped down on his bed-mate's bed with a groan. "Bad day?" Axel asked, as he shoved some loose ends into his suitcase.

Roxas nodded into the sheets with a incoherent response that Axel translated into: "Shut the fuck up, Firecrotch, I don't wanna talk about it." Which, of course, meant that the blond wanted to be pestered about it.

"So...wanna talk about it?" Axel asked. He received the expected 'no' and grinned. "Well...if you aren't gonna talk about it..." The redhead crawled over Roxas, and begun poking at the boy's sides, making him squirm and roll over-"Gotcha," Axel growled, and launched his attack, sending Roxas into a fit of laughter inbetween screams of "Axel," and "Stop" and "oh god."

This naturally piqued the curiousity (read:concern) of Axel's house-mates, as Zexion came bursting in through the door accompanied by Demyx and an amused looking Larxene. It was then that Roxas yelled out a "help!" and Axel was pushed off by the suprisingly strong Zexion.

Roxas gasped for air. "God, fat ass, I thought I was gonna die," he said, shooting a glare at Axel. The three intruders left, after a disappointed whine from Larxene.

Axel pouted. "My ass is not fat. It's the perfect size."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "I remember Demyx saying something like that about his dick," he said, smiling mockingly. "And we all know that's not true."

Axel forwned at the blond, and shoved him off the bed.

Roxas popped back up. "You wanna go?"

"Come at me, bro."

Roxas launched himself over the bed, flinging himself into Axel, who caught him and fell into the wall, laughing into the blond's chest as Roxas buryed his face into his red mane. "Om nom nom," Roxas said, as he chomped down on Axel's earlobe.

Axel squirmed, and shoved the blond off of him. "Now quit distracting me, I gotta pack," he said, shaking a finger at Roxas in a scolding manner.

Roxas pouted. "But Axellllllllllll!"

Axel bit his lip. "Later. I don't want Zexion to barge in here in the middle of something and make me pack."

Roxas pouted, but didn't argue-he didn't really want that either. Didn't sound too desireable. Instead he watched as Axel packed seemingly random things in his bag-seriously, who needs a pokemon card on tour? Much less a weedle.

Just as Roxas was about to go bother Zexion about dinner, Axel let out a loud breath, closed his bag, and plopped down on the bed next to him. "Fuckin' hate packing," he muttered, and lifted the arm covering his eyes slightly. "So how're youuuu?"

Roxas shrugged, and leaned back on his elbows. "I'm okay. I could go for some food right now, though. Wanna accompany me in bothering Zexion about making us sammiches?"

Axel smirked. "I like the way you think, kid."

Roxas grinned. "I know, I'm awesome," he said, and went out into the hallways.

"You're something, alright," Axel muttered, shaking his head and following the shorter boy.

._. ._. ._.

An hour later, and the pair finally got Zexion to make them all food-after they enlisted the help of Demyx, who Zexion was incapable of saying no to.

Roxas learned that this weakness was the reason that Demyx was able to get his first tattoo at 15-Zexion was extremely good at forging things, so Demyx simply made him make a fake ID stating him to be 18. Demyx didn't however use it for drinking-god knows why, he probably wasn't smart enough.

Axel had just walked into the shop, made friends with the artist, and got his tattoo. The artist, of course, being Xigbar. Axel had a tattoo of an empty cavity over his heart, as did Demyx. Turns out, Larxene, Zexion, Marluxia, and Xigbar himself had one.

Axel also had a roman numeral eight on his left deltoid, along with his purple upside down tear drops on each cheek, which had actually been his first tattoo that his brother (and legal guardian at the time) signed off for. When Roxas asked about them, Axel had smiled softly and told him he'd tell him when he was older, much to the blond's chagrin.

"Roxas," Axel was saying. "You wanna go to the store?"

"Fuck no, you'll pull a Larxene and leave me stranded."

"I'll hold your hand the entire time, I swear."

"I don't want your cooties."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Really? 'Cause you were sending off a completely different message earlier."

Roxas blushed and looked away.

"Axel, can you _please_ spare me, and save your dirty talk for when we aren't eating dinner?" Larxene asked, rolling her eyes. "I really don't want to hear about what you two do."

"Hey, Roxas, wanna go fuck on Larxene's bed? Oh, I know! Let's ask Zexion and Demyx to join us! The more the merrier, I always say."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's not your catch phrase, Axel."

"Shut up, Roxas," Axel said, glaring at the blond. "I will stab you with my plate."

Roxas lifted an eyebrow. "Whatever. I'll go to the store with you, I guess."

Axel grinned. "That's good," he said, grinning. "Last time I had to take Demyx, and trust me, Demyx and the condom isle is a bad combo."

"Oh. You probably shouldn't take Roxas then," Demyx said. "He's easily distracted by shiny things. Zexy's diary said so."

Zexion pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's not a diary, Demyx."

"Oh. Well. Whatever it is."

Zexion glared at his boyfriend. "Roxas, go with Axel. Axel, leave before Larxene kills you and I have to cancel the tour and find a new singer."

The two stared blankly at the slate-haired boy, earning a stern look from him, and then scampered off to find their shoes and wallets. Somehow, Roxas had managed to lose his wallet under Axel's bed, which meant he was forced to climb under there-finding things no man should ever see-namely, Larxene's underwear.

Roxas decided it was best he didn't ask.

._. ._. ._.

"Hey, Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you need condoms if none of your fans get to see your face-I mean, do you just do it with the mask on, or-"

"Rox, how long has that been bothering you?"

"Uh...the entire time we were on the bus."

Axel snorted. "Well, to be honest, the only one allowed to take of their mask is Larxene, since she's the most normal looking out of all of us, so no one really could spot her in a crowd," he said, shrugging. "She doesn't, though, because she's too full of herself and doesn't think the media is worthy enough to know her."

Roxas frowned. "That didn't answer my question at all."

"Well, if we were to sleep with fans-which me and Demy don't, because I don't like chicks and Demy has Zexion, we would have to keep our masks on," he said, shrugging.

"So what if there was like a really hot guy fan offering himself up for a chance to see your face?"

Axel glanced at him. "I'd say fuck no, I don't want some fag on my dick, and walk away."

Roxas stared blankly at him. "But you're gay."

Axel frowned. "Yeah, what's your point?"

"You advertise that you suck dick."

"And your point...?"

"What the fuck, Axel."

Axel winked at the blond, and grabbed a box of condoms and some lube off the shelf, putting it in the basket. "Maybe I'm just really picky."

"So say this guy was perfect in everyway-met all your standards?"

"Probably has like...syphillus or something."

"So no matter what, you wouldn't do a fan?"

Axel glanced at him, smirking. "I dunno, that depends. You a fan?"

"No, Ax. I'm a hater."

"See? I sleep with fans."

Roxas frowned. "I don't think I count since I was your friend before hand."

Axel sighed. "Okay, so I don't sleep with fans. Happy?"

"So... who _do _you sleep with? I mean, obviously I'm not the only one..."

Axel rubbed his neck. "I mean, you're not my first...but I'm not a player."

"Obviously I'm not your first. You're not mine, either," he said, shrugging. "We've been over that."

"I don't see where this is going."

"I'm not fucking you on a bus, Ax."

"Oh, is that what you're getting at? Don't worry, kiddo. There's bars, hotels, backstage..."

Needless to say, the old woman at the register was horrified.

._. ._. ._.

I always forget line blocks don't show up on fanfiction, and then I'm all 'cause you can't get rid of them. D:

Uh, anyways, I started my senior year today-they shouldn't have colorful carpet in classrooms, stupid people (read: this guy) get distracted easily by pretty colors.

-coughcough-

Er, Thanks for reading! I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. D:

Fact: My mom ditches me in Walmart a lot. Scary place, Walmart. ."

(and then I find her like half an hour later and she's like 'wtf kid you're supposed to be in the shoe department')

...


	13. Ask in the Morning

_Tour was fun, but not at the same time. On one hand, I got to see my favorite band for free. On the other, I was held backstage the entire time._

_._. ._. ._._

"Hey, kid! Can I talk to you?"

Roxas turned around. "Rikku?"

"Whoa, whoa! What're you doing here, Roxas?"

Roxas's brow furrowed slightly. "I should be asking _you_ what _you're_ doing here."

She grinned. "I'm with the press, yo. Ain't that cool?"

Roxas groaned. "Well go interview a fan or something, then."

Rikku pouted. "But you're a fannnnn," she whined.

"I don't count. You don't interview family. Now shoo!" He said, as he pushed her towards some unsuspecting fan.

"B-but you've seen their faces!"

"Yeah so have you, now go the hell away."

Rikku whined and flailed some more before Roxas finally got her to go away. With a sigh, he retreated back to his corner, where he could properly view Axel, running around stage in...Why was that man in his boxers? Roxas' palm made it's way to his forehead as he shook his head, smiling lightly at the redhead's ecstatic jumping. He was like a little kid-no wonder Axel and Demyx got along so well.

The song ended and Axel stopped his jumping in favor of a staggered walk. "Hey guys, which one of you has my pants?" He asked into the microwave. Some girl (?) with spiky black hair screamed and waved them around. Upon closer examination, Roxas realized that it was a guy. Awkward. Axel chuckled. "Well, you can keep 'em. I fuckin' hate pants!"-a cheer from the crowd- "Alright, guys. I'll quit wastin' your time. We gotta song to play. This one's a cover of Anberlin's song, _The Unwinding Cable Car_," he said, nodding at Demyx. "And Nocturne here is gonna sing it," he added in, quieting the crowd. He looked back at them. "Oh come on, guys. I need to take a piss, so give him some love while I'm gone."

He gave the mic to Demyx before hauling ass off stage, sliding in his socks in front of Roxas. "Jesus. Can I barrow your shorts?"

"Fuck no," Roxas said, frowning.

Axel groaned. "Please, babe? You love me, right? You don't want to make me suffer..."

"If you want in my shorts you're gonna have to work at it, buddy."

Roxas could _feel_ the narrowed eyes, even if he couldn't see them. "Well, then, why don't we take this somewhere else? We got a good...three more minutes before Demyx finishes serenading our manager."

Roxas rolled his eyes and led Axel to the bathroom, and shed his shorts. He held them out to Axel.

"What? I thought I had to work for this," he said, tilting his head.

Roxas locked the bathroom door after checking all the stalls. He grinned and pulled off the black-and-red mask.

"Hey there," Axel said, grinning.

"Demyx's singing totally killed the desire to fuck you," Roxas replied.

"It has that effect on people," he said, as he bent down to catch the other's lips with his own. Roxas smiled and broke the kiss, burying himself against Axel's chest. "Gee, Roxy. You sure you wanna do that? I probably smell like death."

"Shut up, I don't even care," Roxas said, teeth gently pulling at the pale flesh of Axel's chest.

"Dang it, Rox. Now you're going on stage with me."

Roxas doubled back. "But-wha-Axel, I'm not going on stage with you!"

"Nope, you totally are."

"Fuck that, I'll sick Zexion on you. Put the damn shorts on now before you're late, dumb fuck."

Axel pouted but did as he was told, donning his mask again. He ran out of the bathroom and slid to a stop in front of Zexion, grabbing the bluenette's face and spouting words Roxas couldn't hear. Zexion nodded, saying "The company already approved it."

Axel grinned and grabbed Roxas' hand. Roxas was on stage before he realized it. _Oh god. I'm on stage in my underwear. It's like a nightmare come true,_ he thought, staring out at the crowd like a dear in headlights. They stared back.

Demyx chucked the mic back to Axel, who caught in with one hand. Roxas was pulled into a side-hug. "Hey, guys, I want you to meet someone," he said. "This kid is my best friend, and Nocturne's kin. And I want you all to know that I fuckin' love this guy, so if you see him around, don't pick on him 'cause he's short!"

"Fuck you, you bastard," Roxas growled. "And to think I let you in my pants," he said as he struggle to shove Axel away.

Axel only chuckled. "He's also my lover, and you guys can call him Key of Destiny," he said, grinning. "He don't have a mask, though, so don't be bastards."

Someone shouted 'take your mask off' and Axel made a small 'heh' noise.

"Wish I could, bro, but I think our manager would kick my ass," he said, shaking his head.

Zexion, however, came out on stage and crept up behind an unsuspecting Axel and tore the mask off, chucking it out to the crowd.

"Holy fuck that hurt, you bastard," Axel said, frowning.

"Company orders," Zexion said, shrugging. He turned to his boyfriend. "You take yours off next show, and Larxene after that."

"Okay then. Well...I'm just gonna get this last song over with-hope my beauty doesn't distract you guys from the music."

The crowd cheered, and Axel went into his next song. Roxas looked around and ran off stage, scared out of his mind, plowing into Zexion. Zexion fell backwards a couple feet from impact into a wall, but let the blond sob into his shoulder from fear.

"Well, shit. We're about to get booted off stage, so I guess I'll see you guys at the next show, eh?" Axel said after they finished their song. The crowd whined, but a few shouted 'get off the stage' making Axel laugh and skip off stage.

"Axel, remove your boyfriend from mine, bro. It's freakin' me out," Demyx said, looking at the two.

"It's your cousin, bro. You do it."

"Fuck that, you're the one who sleeps with him."

"You're the one who has a problem with it."

"You're the one who—-"

"Oh shut the fuck up," Larxene said, pulling Roxas off a bewildered Zexion and tossing the small blond into Axel's arms. "Let's go get wasted, Zexion. You can come too, Axel, Roxas."

"What about me?" Demyx asked, whining.

"Fuck that, I don't want to deal with your drunk ass," she spat, leading the other three away.

Demyx whined and followed them anyways.

._. ._. ._.

"Roxy, wake up," Axel crooned to the boy who had fallen asleep on the way back to the hotel.

Roxas groaned and latched himself onto Axel. Axel sighed, and picked the blond up bridal style.

"You're lucky you're cute, kid," Axel muttered, glad that he was sober enough to make it to their room with minimal difficulty.

"I know," Roxas said, shocking the redhead.

"You're awake? Why am I carrying you then?"

"'Cause you luff me," Roxas said, as Axel opened the door to their room.

Axel frowned. "Rox, what are we?"

Roxas yawned in response.

"Are you my boyfriend?"

"Am I?"

Axel sighed. "Forget it, I'll ask you in the morning."

Roxas smiled sleepily up at Axel as he was set down on the bed. "I love you," he said.

"You're drunk."

As if to prove his point, Roxas ran to the bathroom and puked.

Axel sighed. He was now reconsidering his earlier decision to not get completely wasted.

._. ._. ._.

Leon fell onto the bed, panting, Cloud next to him. "Love you," he muttered, quietly.

Cloud's eyes widened. Leon...loved him? No...no. Leon couldn't love him. They were just fuck buddies. That was that. There was no way in hell that _Leon_, the mortal enemy of Seifer, the man who felt nothing, loved him. It was just the orgasm talking. That's all. It didn't mean anything.

After all, Leon would never hurt him like that. Leon was gentle compared to love.

Or maybe Cloud's perception of love was distorted by that man.

For now, though... he would ignore it. Leon was just...caught in the moment. Cloud let his eyes slip closed as he buried his face into Leon's chest, breathing in the smell of the other man.

._. ._. ._. ._.

**A/N: **gosh, guys. I'm sorry for the super late update. I'm doing a play with my school, so I don't get home 'til late. I've had almost no motivation to write as of late. But since I have a project due tomorrow morning, I guess it makes sense that inspiration would attack now. XD

Don't hate me?

Thanks for reading, folks. :3


	14. What is Love?

_**I wish I had never met you.**_

_The fuck did I do to you? _He texted back, frowning at his phone.

_**Everything.**_

He scoffed. What a typical response. Ass. _Whatever, bastard. I'll be there in ten minutes._ He typed back, as he crossed the street onto his block.

Ten minutes later found him standing at the door of the room he'd taken up residence in, arms crossed and one hip jutting out, right foot tapping impatiently as he waited for the afore mentioned door to be unlocked and preferably opened.

"Go the fuck away," came the growl he'd come to assosiate with home.

"Not until you open this goddamn door and kiss me, you damn fool."

"oooo, Cloudie, that was _hot_," Yuffie sung from the living room.

Cloud sighed. "Whatever, if you won't open this door, I guess I'll spend my time with Yuffie, _Squall,"_ he said, smirking as he walked into the living room and sat down next to the Wutai woman who sat on the couch, watching-god, was she _really_ watching Teletubbies? Why wasn't that show...obliterated off the face of the earth? God_damn._

"What'd you call me?" Roared the man who hid in his room.

"Leon, shut the fuck up. I'm trying to have a decent conversation," Xion screamed from the room bordering his.

Cloud sighed. "Yuffie, do you know what's gotten into Leon?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Maybe he's just mad 'cause you got a boyfriend?"

Cloud snorted. "What are you talking about, Yuffie?"

"Zack, that guy who always brings you home in the mornings?"

Cloud blinked. "Zack..? Ha, as if. He's my _friend._"

"CLOUD YOU ASSHOLE WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LOVE LEON SO HE'LL SHUT THE FUCK UP?"

Cloud winced as a fist slammed into his jaw. He rubbed his face-a bruise would surely form there, but atleast this time the vulumptious woman more commonly known as boobs-er, _Tifa_- hadn't broken his jaw. He glanced around as people just started coming out of the woodworks-Tifa, Aerith, Zack, Aqua, Terra, that kid who looked like Roxas (what was his name?), Sora, Riku, Kairi, Cid,Yuna (his mom?), Paine, and...wait, where was Rikku?

As if she could read his mind-and he suspected she could,-Paine spoke up. "Rikku is working."

Cloud nodded slowly.

"Now, Cloud, do you know what this is?" Aerith asked.

"A bunch of people I know and some I don't really know gathered in Yuffie's living room staring at me quietly?"

Aerith sighed. "Yes, I suppose it would be, but that wasn't the answer I was looking for, Cloud," she said, shaking her head. "Cloud, why are you doing this to yourself?"

Cloud stared at her. "Doing what?"

"You're...well, you know. Using the people you love you to hurt yourself-using us to use you," Yuna said, frowning.

Cloud suspected that he wasn't the only one confused by that sentence. "What?"

"You gotta stop fuckin' all your buddies, broski. You're killin' our homeboy," Yuffie said.

Cloud narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you talking like that?"

"Talking like what, Cloudie?" Yuffie replied, tilting her head.

Cloud frowned, and slid his gaze to Aerith and Tifa. "What's this all about?"

"Cloud... We might not know what happened when you were gone-and that's your own damn fault,-but we can see that you aren't okay. And... what you're doing isn't helping you," Tifa said, crossing her arms. "It's not good for you, and it's not good for the people you're using. You don't have to live with the pain alone-we're all here for you, you know."

Cloud frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"What we're saying, is, make up your mind. It's either you trust us, our you don't have us, okay?"

Cloud flinched, and stood up. "I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

Zack pushed him back down, shaking his head. "Cloud, man, you're okay. I'm here, buddy."

It was when he found himself wrapped up in Zack's arms that he realized that he was having a panic attack.

That was also when he realized that he was still in Zack's apartment, curled up in the corner of Zack's kitchen, hand covered in blood and glass shattered around him. He raised shakey arms up and wrapped them around the waist of his best friend, who was still cooing comforting words into his ear in an attempt to calm him down.

"Wh-what happened?" Cloud finally managed to force out, his voice breathy and higher than it should have been.

"I got up this morning to find you out here like this, so I have no clue," he said, frowning.

"They're mad at me, aren't they?"

Zack's brow furrowed. "Who's they, and why would they be mad at you?"

"Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Leon..."

Zack snorted. "They aren't mad at you. They're concerned, 'cause you never acted like a fuckin' addict before you left, but they aren't mad at you."

"I-that's good, I guess."

"Yeah..."

A silence fell between them.

"Hey Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"I killed him," Cloud said, quietly.

"Holy shit dude, you killed Leon? What'd you do that for, man?"

Cloud stared at him, light blue eyes wide. "What are you talking about?"

Zack stared back with a matching gaze, and through his arms up. "I give up, man. You're speakin' crazy again."

Cloud frowned. "I wouldn't kill Leon," he said, shaking his head. "I just-nevermind. It doesn't matter."

"No, no-I'm not saying you have to stop talking, Cloud-come on, man, don't be this way," Zack said, as Cloud attempted to walk away.

Cloud winced as Zack's hand wrapped around his wrist.

"Er...sorry. Here, let me take care of that..." Zack said, dragging the blond into the bathroom and setting him on the counter. He took out a pottle of rubbing alcohol and some gauze bandages. "Ready?"

Cloud nodded, and cringed as the cold, stinging, smelly clear liquid poured over his cuts. Zack wrapped the blond's hand with the bandage and smiled at him.

"There. Now you wanna tell me what's going on? 'cause I mean, if you gotta bury the body, I'm sure we could talk to Yuffie, or maybe that creepy Vexen guy next door..."

Cloud shook his head. "No...that's not necessary. I burned the house down...blew up the car..." he smiled slightly. "Know how I said I was in Wutai?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"I was in Nibelheim," he said, shaking his head. "With that guy you said you didn't trust."

Zack stared at the blond.

Cloud chuckled lightly, the sound a little too high in pitch. "I, uh... lost my mind, I guess. He...I killed him, Zack. I'm a murderer."

Zack frowned. "Cloud...you did what you had to. You were in a situation that required you to defend yourself-so you did."

"I stabbed him to death and lit his house and car on fire."

"So? You're alive, aren't you?"

Cloud looked away, shrugging.

"Oh come _on,_ buddy. You don't think this is some sort of afterlife, do you?"

"Shouldn't I...I don't know, feel something?"

"Cloud. Buddy. You know this psychology stuff I'm about to spout is stolen from Aerith, right?" Cloud nodded. "Okay. So. When you experience traumatic shit, your mind tries to make it all better by doing a bunch of weird shit. So you're displacing all your guilt and pain to other stuff-and that, my friend, is why you're acting like a man whore."

Cloud blinked.

Zack stared back, something like triumph dancing in his sky-blue eyes.

"So you're saying that I should stop?"

Zack shrugged. "I dunno, man, this isn't my field. Talk to Aerith about that kind of thing, not me."

Cloud frowned. "I...I don't know if she'd be able to help," he said, shaking his head.

Zack raised an eyebrow. "Cloud. Seriously? Aerith can _always_ help. You know that."

Cloud nodded slowly. "Do you...do you love her?"

Zack simply smiled as he went back into his room.

"I'm sorry... I'm just hurting you all, aren't I?" Cloud mused to himself quietly. He hopped off the counter with a sigh and collected his bag from the pile on the floor. "I'm gonna go, see ya!" He called out, earning a 'See Yah,' in response from Zack as he made his way out.

Cloud sighed as he walked to the too-familiar door of Leon's room, relieved to find it unlocked. The brunette glanced up at him from his book, nodding in acknowledgment. Cloud dumped his stuff in a heap by the door and climbed onto the bed, wrapping his arms around the other man's waist as he buried his face into the other's chest.

"Hello," Leon said, putting his book down in favor of trailing a hand soothingly across the blond's back. "You look like shit, you alright?"

"I...I talked to Zack," he answered, unsure.

"You do this often, usually this doesn't make you look like you got hit by three busses."

"He told me I was acting like a man-whore," Cloud said.

"Good o' Zack, pointing out that which we already knew," Leon said, not sure where the blond was going with this conversation.

Cloud sighed. "I-I'm hurting him, I think," he said. "I think...I think he's in love with Aerith."

"No shit," Leon said, confused as to why Cloud hadn't figured that out when they were in middle school. "Where're you going with this?"

"I...Leon, what is love?"

Leon sputtered. "Are you trollin' me?"

Cloud's brow furrowed. Leon could feel it against his shirt. "I'm being serious."

Leon let out a sigh. "Love is... well...fuck, I don't know how to explain this. Just go to sleep or something, okay? You look like you need it."

Cloud grunted.

"God, fine," Leon said, tossing his book at the wall. "Love is...well...fuck. No-no, Cloud, love is _not_ fuck. That's lust-that's Reno's issue. Don't be like him," he said, shaking his head. "Okay. Love is when you...er..."

"LOVE IS WHEN YOU TRUST SOMEONE SO HARDCORE THAT YOU DON'T EVEN CARE," Yuffie shouted from her room.

"...well, I guess she's kinda right..." Leon hated to admit it, though. "It's like...when you love someone, you'd do anything for them-and you wouldn't ever judge them, because you just want them to be happy-even if it means you get hurt in the end."

"That was...uncharacteristically sappy, Leon," Cloud said, blinking.

"Yeah...shut your goddamn mouth," Leon grumbled.

Cloud smiled. "You know... I...think I'm going to stop being a man-whore."

Leon flinched. "Er, I guess that's cool?"

Cloud sighed. "I don't know anymore, Leon. I only feel anything with one person, you know?"

Leon felt his chest lurch. "You're in love with Tifa, aren't you?"

Cloud doubled back. "What gave you that idea?"

Leon shrugged. "I dunno, Riku said you were gonna marry her..."

"CLOUDIE BACK OFF MY WOMAN," Yuffie shouted.

"Thank you, Yuffie..." Leon muttered, shaking his head.

Cloud blinked. "Leon...you know how last time we did it, you told me you loved me?"

Leon, for the first time ever in the history of ever, felt his face heat up. "I...uh, might have let something slip..."

Cloud smiled. "Did you...mean it?"

Leon chanced a look at the blond. The blond met his gaze. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I did."

Cloud glanced away for a second. "I, uh," Cloud said, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "_think I love you too, Leon,"_ he finished.

Fuck. Yeah.

Inside, Leon was dancing circles around a defeated pile of competitors-also known as Tifa. Outside, he was staring blankly at the blond boy who looked like he was scared shitless.

"You sure you're feelin' alright, Cloud?"

"Yeah..?"

Leon shook his head, placing on hand on the blond's forehead. "You must be coming down with something. You? _Love?_ Bullshit."

Cloud scowled. "I'm not the guy who works at Taco Bell. I have a heart. And a brain. And they both function well," he said. "And if I said I loved you, you better fucking accept it, ass."

Leon held his hands up in defeat. "Whatever, Cloud. You got me. I'm being an ass. Yeah, yeah. I love you, You love me, we're all a big o' family-"

"OH GOD STOP! LEON YOU ASS!"

That time, the screaming was _not_ Yuffie.

Poor Cloud.

._. ._. ._.

Tour past them by quickly, and before he knew it, they were back in Twighlight Town. Since he no longer had the security of wearing a mask, Axel had to go incognito-he wore his red hair pulled back in a ponytail, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses that covered his facial tattoos.

"Rox...you never answered my question," he said into the shorter boy's ear as they walked down the familiar path through the park toward's Roxas's home.

"What question?"

"The one from after the show in Traverse Town," he said, watching the blond's face for any signs of recollection.

"You mean the one I got totally wasted after?"

"Yeah."

"I was wasted. What was the question?"

"What are we?"

Roxas blinked. "Huh?"

"You know...is this it? Just...fuck buddies?"

Roxas shrugged. "I dunno, it's up to you," he said. "I don't really care either way, 'cause you're still my friend."

Axel frowned. "Roxy, I don't want to just be friends, you know."

"God, you're cheesy. Okay, we can be significant others or whatever the fuck you wanna call it. God. Happy?"

Axel nodded, lips curved upwards in joy as he slipped his hand into the other boy's. "Very," he said, nuzzling the blond's hair.

"OH MY GOD IT'S ROXAS," someone screamed, before Roxas was tackled to the ground. "Where the hell did you go?"

"Yuffie, I told you I was going on a trip," Roxas muttered.

._. ._. ._.

**A/N:**

Props to Kurai-Hinote for pounting out my derp in the last chapter, "Which one of you has my pants?" He asked into the MICROWAVE."

This chapter was kinda a cleon-based chapter.

I'm sorry.

I'll try to write something, I dunno, substantial in the akuroku department.

(Why have I completely ignored the soriku in this?)

I still don't know how to reply to reviews. I don't want to come off as a total jerk for not responding, I'm just really, really stupid with that kind of thing. ._.

_Also I dunno if this might confuse someone or not, but Cloud was hallucinating at the beginning of the chapter. _

So uh yeah.

Thanks for reading! 8D


	15. Roxas the Bearded Lady

He let out a sigh of contentment as he crawled under the blankets, nuzzling his bed-mate's hair. "I love you," he whispered.

"Awwww, I love you too, Cloudie," Yuffie replied, rolling over and looking up at the blond with glittering black eyes.

"OH FUCKING HELL, YUFFIE!" Cloud shouted as he quickly leapt from the bed, small ninja straddling his waist.

"You're so cute when you're being raped, Cloudie," she said, licking his face.

"What the hell is going on in th-YUFFIE! WHY ARE YOU LICKING MY BOYFRIEND'S FACE?"

Cloud looked over at his boyfriend helplessly, a perfect picture of "DO. NOT. WANT."

Yuffie giggled and jumped down from her position at Cloud's waist, clapping Leon on the shoulder (well, almost) before walking out of the room with a very lady-like belch.

Eye-twitching and slightly shaking, Cloud wiped his face on Leon's shirt. "Aw, man, what the hell? That's disgusting."

Cloud, closing one eye, pointed to his cheek expectantly.

Leon was, for lack of better words, flabberghasted. "You-expect _me-__**me**_-to lick your face-after Yuffie did?"

Cloud stared at him, frowning, and nodded once.

Leon let out a disgruntled sigh, and, like the whipped man he was, licked Cloud's face.

Little did they know, Xion was hiding in the closet filming it all on her cell phone.

-(pagebreak)-

"Roxassssssss, Rocks-asssssss, Rossexxxxxx-"

"I swear to god Axel if you don't stop I'll-"

"You'll what, beat me with your shoe?"

Roxas took off his shoe and started beating his phone with his shoe. However, to Axel, it sounded an aweful lot like heaving breathing and thumping, to which he responded with an "Oh, baby," earning a loud growl from his blond lover.

"I-hate-you!" Roxas screamed, chucking his phone at the wall. It was at this point he was quite glad that his mother had gotten him and Sora the most rugged and durable (albeit low-tech) cell phones on the market, as it simply lay on the floor waiting for the blond to go pick it up and continue his conversation with his beloved (not that he'd admit it) boyfriend.

"Aw, Roxy, I love you too!"

"Fucking douche-bag."

"Rox, we've been over this. I don't like to clean vaginas. That's what _Xion_ likes to do."

"BASTARD!"

"Aw, c'mon, Rox! I thought you were over that by now. It's been half a year!"

Roxas bit his lip. "I really thought I was gonna marry her, Ax. You know that," he said.

Axel sighed. "I know, baby. But-shit happens, right? You love someone and they just don't feel the same. It happens."

"Yeah...and there are other fish in the sea, that's just how life goes, yadda, yadda, yadda."

"There better not be anymore fish in the sea, or this fish is gonna have to kick some fishy-ass."

Roxas chuckled. "Thanks, Ax."

"Hey, babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Move in with me."

Roxas spit out the Kool-aid he'd just taken a drink of. "Uhhh, what did you just say?"

"Move in with me."

"Axel..."

"I'm serious, Rox."

"You don't live in your house for most of the year. Why would I want to live there?"

Axel sighed. "Roxas, I'm offering you a job. Zexion told me I could, since one of our roadies quit at the end of the last tour and he said you were good at it."

"Well...yeah, but-wait, what? Isn't that kind of like sleeping with the boss to get a job?"

"Uhhh, unless you and Zexion got something going on that I should know about, no."

"Whatever. Don't I have to go to school or something for that?"

"Uhh, no, Roxas. As long as you know your shit we don't give a shit."

"But Axel-"

"Roxas, why are you so hesitant about this?"

"I don't know. I'm just... I'm only nineteen, Ax. I don't know what I wanna do with my life, and I don't wanna make any mistakes."

"Roxas? This is Zexion," the slate-haired boy said. "Believe me when I say that there is no mistake in working a few jobs before going into your career. It is a normal part of life."

"Hey, can you take me off speaker phone, Zexion?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Are you away from Ax and all them?"

"Yes, I'm outside now."

"Good," Roxas said, sitting down on his bed. "I'm sure you understand, right? I don't want to get in too deep with Axel."

"Roxas, Axel isn't likely to hurt you."

"That's not-"

"And if you hurt him, he'll forgive you. He's an adult."

"That's just it-"

"You are also an adult now, Roxas. You aren't that far apart in age, even less so in mentality."

"But he's-"

"Been through more. Yes, but he's still very immature and doesn't really know what he's doing with his life either. You are not alone in this, Roxas." Zexion paused. "Perhaps one day you will find yourselves in eachother, perhaps you won't. It can't hurt for you to look somewhere new for what you want to do with your life."

"Thanks, Zexion-can I have some time to think about it?"

"You have the rest of tonight. I will be sending our neighbor-you remember Marluxia, correct?-to get you in the morning."

"But-"

"Goodnight, Roxas. Start packing and be ready to leave at 9 o'clock sharp tomorrow morning."

"Uh, yes, sir."

Roxas groaned and started packing.

"OH MY GOD. OH-OH MY GOD. ROXAS. DON'T DO THIS, BRO. DON'T DO THIS TO ME."

"Sora, what on earth are you talking about?"

"You-you're going off to join the carnival, aren't you? You're gonna be the bearded lady and bamboozal poor, innocent folk out of their money. Oh my god. I can't believe it. How could you do such a horrible thing? Roxas, why? Where did I go wrong as a brother? Is this about that time I didn't share my crayons with you? Because I'll share with you-heck, I'll even share Riku if it keeps you from being a carnie!"

"Who are we sharing me with, babe?" Riku called from the living room, mildly concerned.

"Sora-god, you're so stupid-I love you, bro, really. But I gotta do this, man. I just-I just gotta."

"Who do you owe money to? Is it the mafia? Oh my god, Roxas. Mom told us not to get involved with dad's friends, why would you do something like that? Oh my god."

"Sora-calm the fuck down, man. Jesus, are you crying? Chill out. I'm going to go be a roadie for Axel's band-no, not a groupie. A roadie. They set up the instruments and mics and that sort of thing."

"Oh...does mom now you're whoring yourself out to Axel's band?"

Roxas' hand was at this point unable to resist the magnetic pull from his face. "Yes, Sora, mom knows that I'm sleeping with my boyfriend, everyone knows that. I'm not doing it for money, though. I'm setting up equipment for money."

"Oh...so you're like...setting up love hotels and stuff?"

"Oh my god, Sora. There is no sex involved with the job of a roadie!"

Sora stared blankly at his twin before swiftly turning on his heel and running full-speed at his own boyfriend, who at this point had wandered over to the hallway out of curiousity.

"Rikuuuuuu! Roxas is going to join the circus and whore himself out to Axel while wearing a dress and not shaving his face and setting up instruments for swindling the public!"

"What the fuck, Sora, What. The. Fuck."

"Uh, bad Roxas?" Riku said, patting his boyfriend lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh, Riku, I knew you'd understand!" Sora said, climbing his silver-ette and devouring his face.

"OH EW, NOT IN FRONT OF ME, GUYS," Roxas said, sheilding his eyes.

-(pagebreak)-

A/N: and that's that for this way overdue short installment of Penpals. Tune in next time for more derpy writings of a brain-dead teenager! XD

(seriously. Harvest Moon for 5 hrs every day is NOT a good idea for your mental health.)


	16. Honey, I'm home!

"Hello? Is anyone here?" He called, frowning. From what he could tell, the house was empty-he'd checked every nook and cranny for the three boys and Larxene (whatever that was), but found no one. The house was as quiet as a mouse, and he was tempted to call Marluxia back to the building, but decided against it, dumping his bags in Axel's room and crawling into the bed, breathing in the scent of his boyfriend.

"Hey there, the sun says hello," was whispered in his ear as his eyes slowly opened. Roxas smiled sleepily and grabbed the soft spikes of crimson and pulled the man's head into his chest. "Are you planning on sleeping all day?"

"Yep," Roxas yawned, releasing Axel's hair and stretching.

Axel quickly climbed over the blond and gripped his wrists in one hand. "Hey there," he said, smirking.

"Hey," Roxas said, grinning up at him. He leaned up for a kiss, but Axel shook his head. Roxas stared at him, befuddled.

"There be cameras about, laddy," the redhead said, grinning. Roxas blanched, causing Axel to chuckle. "Nah, I just ate garlic bread. You don't wanna kiss me right now."

Roxas rolled his eyes and threw himself at the redhead, forcing him backwards.

"Oh my god, Roxas is here? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Demyx squealed, and ran into Axel's room. "AUGH! MY EYES!" He shouted, covering them and running away, whimpering like an injured dog.

"Demyx, please remove yourself from me. I am on the phone."

"But Zexyyyyy! I'm hurt! Scarred for life!"

"Demyx, there's scooby snacks in the cupboard. Go...amuse yourself or something, alright?" Zexion replied, and shoved the larger boy off of him.

Demyx sprang up and went to the cupboard, letting out a loud squeal.

"Imbecile-Ah, hello, yes, this is Zexion, manager of the Heartless? Yes. 3 pm? Okay." Zexion closed his phone and walked over to Axel's room, unphased by the blond laying on top of the redhead. "Interview tomorrow at 3. You and Larxene are being fitted for new outfits for the _Rebirth_ Tour in forty minutes, so finish up here and let's go."

With that, Zexion swiftly closed the door and walked away, leaving the two to their own devices.

* * *

><p>(pagebreak)<p>

Roxas enjoyed living with Axel-his bed was way more comfortable than his own, and it was usually safe to latch onto the warm body that slipped under the covers at one in the morning (though one time it was Demyx, which Roxas felt was weird as heck).

However, it was boring. He was generally left at home for interviews, signings, photoshoots, etc. Unless the band had scheduled some sort of makeshift concert (which was meant mostly to annoy people). As a result of such boredom, Roxas resorted to texting Hayner and Leon twenty-four-seven.

(pagebreak)

Hayner groaned. From nine in the morning to eleven at night, his very own little demon texted him. He'd tried everything-not replying, turning his phone off, chucking the phone at the wall, telling him to stfu, _everything._ But the texts just kept coming in, like enemy fire.

"Lamer, who the fuck keeps texting you?"

Hayner groaned in response, chucking his phone out the window. "Fuckin' Roxas, I swear to god..."

Seifer grunted and pulled Hayner back into the bed. "Shut up and go to sleep, Lamer."

Hayner rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around the blond, smiling tiredly as he buried his face into his chest.

"_Oh my god, what are you doing?"_

Hayner jumped, scrambling away from Seifer to stare wide-eyed at his mother. "N-nothing!"

"Wh-what do you mean nothing? You-you were clinging onto him!"

"I was asleep, mom! Chill out!"

She laughed, a loud and _not_ happy sound. "I did not raise some little faggot. You-you are not my son!"

"What the hell, mom! I'm not even gay! Just because I cling to people in my sleep doesn't make me gay!"

"Get out of my house!"

"Mom!"

"Get out of my house! Both of you!"

_Slap._ Hayner stared at her, holding his face in disbelief. "M-mom!"

"You are not my child!"

"Touch him again and I will break you in two, you scum." Seifer growled, grabbing her raised fist in one hand. "Hayner, just go."

"No! Don't touch her!" Hayner said, trying to unlatch the larger boy's hand from his mother's fist. "Dammit, Seifer, why do you have to be such an ass? Let go of her!"

"She was going to punch you, Lamer!"

"So? Let her! You punch me all the time, I don't see what difference it makes!"

"Hayner-are you being...abused by this man?"

Hayner stared at his mother. "What do you care? It's not like I don't fight back."

"Hayner...baby! You can't let people hurt you like that!" His mother said, dropping her fist and wrapping her son in her arms.

"The fuck? You just slapped him!"

"Oh, Hayner, mommy didn't mean those bad things she said earlier," she said, rubbing her son's back gently. She turned to Seifer. "I don't know who you are, but you can leave. Now."

"What the hell? I've been here every fucking day for the last two years! You talk to me everyday!"

"Seifer...just...go, will you? Please?"

Seifer opened and closed his mouth, then threw his arms up in the air and left the apartment.

* * *

><p>(pagebreak)<p>

"Fwaaaaa~!"

"Oh shit!" Leon yelped, as the ninja's foot collided with his stomach. "What the fuck, Yuffie?"

"Hey now! No naughty words in my home, you bastard!"

"Yuffie, you just-nevermind. What's your problem?"

"How do I make ice cream in the microwave?"

"Oh my god, Yuffie, it's _ice_ cream. You don't need to use heat. Just take the tub out of the freezer and scoop out the ice cream into a bowl."

"And then I put it in the oven?"

"No, Yuffie, then you _eat_ it."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because it's _ice cream_ and is supposed to be served _cold._ As in, straight from the _freezer._"

"I don't get it."

"Oh my-look, I'll just get it for you, okay?"

"Okay!"

Leon shook his head. Sometimes he swore she was just playing stupid to get him to do her bidding, but knowing Yuffie-she probably really didn't know.

"Yuffie? I'm home!"

"Cloudie! Welcome home, honey!" Yuffie said, kissing the blond on the cheek. "Squallykins is just making us some ice cream on the stove."

Cloud snorted slightly. "Alright, then. Squall is such a good dog, isn't he?"

Leon's eye twitched as he slammed the scoop of ice cream into the bowl. "I wasn't aware you two were suddenly my owners..."

Cloud smirked. "Leon, we've been over this," he said, shaking his head. "I've _always_ been your master."

"Ooo! Does that mean I'm the mistress?"

"Oh my god, what did I just walk in on?" Xion said, covering her ears.

"Oh, honey, you're home!" Yuffie said, flouncing over to her daughter and kissing her on the cheek as well. "Our pet dog, Squall, is making us ice cream!"

"For the last time, Yuffie, ice cream does not need to be heated!"

"Oh, listen to him. Isn't he just the most adorable puppy ever?"

Xion giggled. "Poor Leon... reduced to the family dog-you wanna make me a bowl too?"

Leon grumbled under his breath something along the lines of "freeloading bastards."

* * *

><p>AN: sorry this chapter is all short and crappy. .

For those of you who care, I updated+finished Dancers and Dreamers at like, 1am last night. Check it out if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading! :DD


	17. Axel's Native Language

A/N: deargod. I never update this anymore.

Sorry 'bout that, guys...really. I'll try to remember to update this...but I haven't really had time/inspiration lately. I blame the weather.

Only reason I'm updating today is because my mom wouldn't take me to school. /:

**Also, this chapter takes place 3ish years after the last one... yep.**

* * *

><p>"You know you're going to get cancer one of these days."<p>

Axel blew out the smoke into the blond's face. "Been there, done that."

Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"I had a cancerous growth on my middle finger when I was ten."

"That's not terminal. Lung cancer is."

Axel shrugged. "I won't live that long anyways."

Roxas frowned. He really hated it when the redhead said things like that. He knew he didn't really mean anything by it-but it still hurt to hear that determination to die.

Axel chuckled and snuffed out the cancer-stick. "If it makes you that upset, I'll stop. But you're going to have to put out more, you know."

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "Are you trying to say something, firecrotch?"

"Suck. My.-"

Roxas snarled and hit the other man with his shoe.

"Ah, dammit, Rox...what the hell was that for?"

"I am _not_ your sex slave, asshole."

"What the hell? I never-are you fucking kidding me? I was joking, dammit!"

Roxas stood up, only to have the redhead drag him back down to the shingled roof, holding the smaller man hostage with his long limbs. Roxas squirmed and tried to fight his way out of the redhead's grip to no avail, eventually falling still, nostrils flaring as he breathed.

"There, there, mein Kätzchen. I won't hurt you," Axel mumbled into the blond's ear.

"No, you'll just fuck me senseless into a rooftop. Let me go," Roxas growled.

"Roxy, baby, I was _joking._ Really, you should know that by now."

"Fuck off, _Axel._"

"Roxas, what the fuck is your problem?"

"You! You're my problem! There, I said it-happy? Now, let. me. go."

Axel frowned. "I'm not letting you go until you tell me what's wrong, kiddo."

Roxas hmmph-ed and clawed at the olive-toned arms around his chest. "_Nothing's wrong._"

"Which means something's wrong and you don't want to tell me. Which means you're mad at me for something I did or said without realizing that it upset you, so humor me, Rox, and tell me how to atone for my sins."

Roxas attempted to elbow his lover in the side to no avail. "Just let me go, okay?"

"Not until you tell me what's bothering you."

"You're a motherfucking _father._"

Axel snorted. "Hate to break it to you, Rox, but guys can't get preggers."

"No-some chick showed up here saying you needed to take care of your damn kid, Axel."

"Roxas, I've never fucked a chick before. It's not physically possible for me to have impregnated anyone. That chick was trolling."

"He looked just like you!"

Axel paused for a second. "Uh, how old was that kid?"

"Thirteen!"

"Roxas... thirteen years ago, _I _was thirteen. I hadn't even hit puberty yet. Think about it."

"Then how the fuck-"

"I have a brother, dude. It's probably his."

"Oh."

"Was that really what you were pissed about?"

"...well...yeah..."

Axel laughed. "God, Roxas, you're so silly."

Roxas frowned, looking down at the rooftop.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Roxas shook his head. "You think I'm a little kid, don't you?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You treat me like a kid."

"No I don't?"

"Yes, you do."

"I don't really find little kids attractive, so I don't really treat you like a kid, Roxy."

"Our relationship sucks."

Axel winced. "I'm...sorry."

"Why can't we be one of those mushy couples? Like Demyx and Zexion."

"Because neither of us is as emotionally inept as Zexion, nor are either of us as...well, peabrained as Demyx."

"Xion and Namine are mushy."

"They're girls."

"Sora and Riku."

"Girls, still."

Roxas shot him a look-that Axel didn't see, of course-that clearly said he wasn't amused. "Even Cloud and Leon are more mushy than us."

"I can be 'mushy' if that's what you want. I just figured you'd get pissed off if I doted on you like that."

"I would."

Axel chuckled. "You're contradicting yourself, blondie."

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry, snookums."

"Fucking asshole."

"You wound me, really," he said, pouting into the blond's hair. "Willst du heiraten?"

"Axel...I don't speak German. I'm not even sure why you suddenly do, but cut it out."

"I've been taking lessons from Zexion. Are you impressed? I hear foreign languages are supposed to impress the ladies."

"I'm not a lady. It's annoying and sounds like you're gonna spit."

"German is a very beautiful language."

"Not when you speak it."

"Ouch."

"Ydych chi am briodi?"

"What about your dick?"

Axel snorted. "This really isn't working out for me."

"No, it isn't. Why don't you just speak English?"

"Because English isn't sexy, and I don't have the balls to ask you in your native tongue."

"It's yours too, dipshit."

"That's what _you_ think."

"Axel. You don't have an accent and I _know_ you don't speak Spanish-remember when we went to that Mexican restaurant? You couldn't even say Quesodilla right."

"...Shut up..."

"And when we went to that Italian place—well, let's face it, the word Parmesan trips you up."

"It does not!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Trust me, Axel, I _know_ you're a native English speaker."

"Am not..."

"And what, pray-tell, are you going to say is your native language?"

"Dinosaur."

Now, this in of it's self wouldn't have been funny-if it hadn't been said in a complete deadpan and followed by hideous noises that sounded like a cross between a dying whale and a giant chicken.

"Oh my god, Axel, shut the fuck _up,_" Roxas said, grinning. "You're such a dumbass."

"But you love me," he said, pinching the blond's cheeks.

Roxas swatted his hands away, and upon realizing he was partially free, turned to face the redhead. "Yeah...I do. God knows why, but...I do."

"Because I'm the most hilarious and intelligent person you've ever met."

"Zexion is way smarter than you."

"But he doesn't have the sense of humor..."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Whatever. So what are you trying to tell me in all these foreign languages?"

Axel flinched slightly. "Uh...I'll tell you later, I guess... you'll probably tell me I'm stupid and hit me with your shoe anyways..."

"Probably, but I do that everyday. What are you keeping from me?"

"...nothing. I'll-we can talk about this later, right? I'm hungry."

Roxas narrowed his eyes but nodded all the same. "That's fine. I'll just google translate it."

Axel glanced at the blond wearily. "You don't know how to spell it."

"That's what you think."

Axel audibly gulped, rubbing the back of his neck-a nervous habit. Roxas narrowed his eyes. "Are you...insulting me?" Roxas asked.

Axel shook his head. "By no means."

"...Riiiighhttttt. So why can't you just tell me?"

"Because I don't have the balls."

"Sure," he said, shaking his head. "The famous rock star doesn't have the balls to tell his boyfriend one single sentence?"

"That's right."

"Somehow that's a little unbelievable."

"You forget, for the majority of my career I was completely unidentifiable-and couldn't really see much of the audience because of it."

"Bullshit."

"No...really. I'd love to tell you, ask you, but...uh, I don't have the nervous capacity to do so yet. So just...drop it, okay?"

Roxas' brow furrowed, but he let it go. For now.

* * *

><p>AN: herderrr this is probably gonna end sometime soon..

like... in a few chapters.

Because I feel like this is a plotless piece of crap way different from what it was originally gonna be. But I feel like that about most things I write, so...eh.


	18. Runaway Roxas

_Dear Axel,_

_I used to think that I would never need anyone but Xion. I used to think I had it all-until it was all taken away and I was left to find comfort in another person. In a way, I feel kind of bad for using you, Axel, even though I know we both enjoyed it, I still felt that deep down I had been using you as a coping method to replace what I'd lost. _

_ I know you'd be arguing with me right now that No, I never was using you, you never felt like that, and that I'm just being silly and that it's okay, you set yourself up for this. But please, Ax, just hear me out-I can't do this anymore. I can't stand to think about the fact that I'm indulging in your kindness anymore. You've done so much for me-listened to me, helped me, gave me a job and a home and so much love that I felt like I was overflowing-and I'm so thankful to you for that, but I really don't know that I can stand to use you anymore. Don't get me wrong, I __**do**__ love you, but... I feel guilty being with you when I've done absolutely nothing for you._

_ With that being said, I've resigned from my position as a roadie for you guys and I'm...leaving. I'm so sorry I'm telling you this through a letter, but... we met through a letter too, you know? And really, I know if I tried to tell you all this, you'd try and stop me, and...I don't think I could handle that. _

_ I'm sorry. I love you._

_ Sincerely, Roxas._

Axel reeled back, dropping the letter. He turned around, storming into the kitchen where his blunette friend stood, putting away groceries as if the entire world hadn't just come crashing down around them.

Without any thought, Axel spun the short man around, slamming him against the cupboards by his shirt. "Where is he? What the fuck, Zexion? You think you two can just..." he let out a half-sob, half laugh. "You think you can just let him leave? You think you can go behind my back, and I wouldn't find out?"

"What on earth are you talking about, Axel?" Zexion replied, as if he wasn't under attack by a mentally unstable twenty-six year old man.

"Roxas! Where the fuck is he?"

Zexion shrugged. "Not here, obviously."

Axel threw the slate-haired man away, ignoring the yelps of alarm that came from the other residents of their home as he stormed out of the house, furiously dialing Roxas' cell.

_"We're sorry, the line you are trying to reach is no longer in service."_

"Fuck!" Axel shouted, contemplating slamming his phone down into the concrete, but quickly amending his thoughts. "Well..maybe he just went home. Yeah...he's probably at home with Sora and Yuna and Yuffie..."

"Hi, Axel!"

"Sora. Is Roxas there?"

"Um...nooooo? Why would he be here? He lives with you, now, silly!"

"Sora, he left. Have you seen him?"

"No, I haven't see a single hair on his pretty little blond head!"

"You're lying to me, aren't you? Do you two think this is funny?"

"Axel," it was Riku. "Calm your tits. We haven't seen Roxas since Christmas, nor has anyone heard from him. We don't know where he is. Maybe he went to get coffee?"

"No, _you_ calm _your_ tits, Riku. My fucking boyfriend left me some bullshit letter saying he was leaving me, I think I have a goddamn reason to be upset-what if he dies? Or gets kidnapped? God, Riku, he's so tiny-it'd be so easy for someone to just snatch him off the street and take him right there, slit his throat and skin him-sell his organs on craigslist and dump him in the trash and oh my god..."

"Axel, calm the shit down. That's not even realistic. Roxas is a big boy-he can take care of himself."

"No he can't!"

"Axel! Are you seriously-stop and listen to yourself for a second. You're overreacting. He's probably just taking a break, and he'll come crawling back into your arms like the pathetic little twat he is. Now go inside, have a drink, and calm the fuck down."

Axel sighed. "You're right-sorry, Riku... I should probably...apologize for throwing Zexion..."

"You _what?"_

Axel shook his head, frowning, and hung up on the silverette.

* * *

><p>Months passed. Occasionally he'd get letters from Roxas, informing him that he was alive and well, but never revealing a location. Eventually the letters stopped coming-and Axel stopped caring. He had a life to live, and fans to please.<p>

Like any songwriter, he turned his life into music, and went on tour for the new album. Zexion had long since forgiven him-admitting that he _did_ deserve it, after all, -and they continued to live in the same house as band-mates and friends.

To say that he was over Roxas would be like saying his hair wasn't red and he was secretly a four-foot tall obese old cat lady.

In other words, he was under no definition of the phrase, over him.

(pagebreak)

"So, the most frequently asked question we get is _What is the story behind 'The Bleeding'?_" The interviewer said. "Would you mind sharing the answer to that with us?"

"Yes," he deadpanned. After a (rather awkward) pause, he chuckled. "It's quite obvious, isn't it? I don't know why people ask that."

The interviewer frowned. "What was going on in your head when you wrote it?"

"I miss him. That's all. Even if he was a total douche-bag about it, I still miss him-fuck, I was going to-" Axel let out a high-pitched snort. "I was going to propose to him, and then-he just fucking left."

The interviewer handed him a box of tissues, and he realized he had tears flowing down his face. He glared at her and wiped them away with the back of his hand, and she set the box down on the table between them.

Roxas frowned. Had the redhead really not gotten over him yet? It had been almost half a year by now-he shook his head. He didn't even know if the redhead was talking about him. For all he knew, Axel had found someone else. He hadn't even heard the song, honestly-which is why he was at the music store in the first place. He grabbed the CD off the shelf and sauntered over to the checkout desk, paying for it and walking back to the car he'd gotten since he left Radiant Garden and moved to Traverse Town.

_"I remember when all the games began  
>Remember every little lie and every last goodbye<br>Promises you broke, words you choked on  
>and I never walked away,<br>it's still a mystery to me_

_Well I'm so empty_  
><em>I'm better off without you and you're better off without me<em>  
><em>Well you're so unclean<em>  
><em>I'm better off without you and you're better off without me<em>

_The lying, the bleeding, the screaming_  
><em>Was tearing me apart<em>  
><em>The hatred (deceiving), the beatings; it's over<em>

_Paint the mirrors black to forget you_  
><em>I still picture your face and the way you used to taste<em>  
><em>Roses in a glass, dead and wilted<em>  
><em>To you this all was nothing<em>  
><em>Everything to you is nothing"<em>

Roxas pressed stop. Something in his chest was breaking. Axel hated him. He knew it would most likely happen-he'd been kind of a major ass when he just up and left that day, but...somewhere deep inside of him had really hoped that the redhead had truly loved him.

Roxas shook his head. How could he have been so naive?

He got back out of his car and ran over to the payphone, dialing the number he'd always known and would never forget.

* * *

><p>AN: song lyrics belong to Five Finger Death Punch. I don't own them. At all.  
>I repeat; The Bleeding belongs to Five Finger Death Punch.<br>._."


	19. Riding Shotgun with Reno

_I never thought I'd see the day when Yuffie no longer thought of me as her son. I really never thought that was possible. Turns out that love isn't as deep as I thought, and...I'm really starting to hate myself for being this way._

Roxas sighed, as he hung up the payphone. Yuffie had refused to talk to him-something about him 'hurting her Axie' and pretty much told him that until he fixed it that he could go hit his head against a thousand beer bottles until he was concussed and unconscious, leading to a rather unfortunate death.

That was not only the most complicated thing he'd ever heard the woman spout, but also the most painful. Usually the self-proclaimed ninja used childish insults like 'poopyhead' and 'jerkface,' not 'selfish insensitive cuntfuck bastard.'

Roxas was mildly afraid for his future.

* * *

><p>He was everywhere he went. On every TV in every music store-okay, so it was just one, and he worked there-and it seemed like everyone was always talking about the redhead.<p>

Every time he saw red out of the corner of his eye, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Every time he smelled smoke, his heart raced. Every time he heard his voice on the radio, or the TV, Roxas felt like crying.

Needless to say, Roxas felt like crying a lot. And sometimes he would. The song would come on while he was at work and he would just start sobbing, as if he'd been trained to do it. It _did_ help the store sell more of the CDs though, as customers usually were compelled to purchase it after seeing the effect it had on the blond. (Or maybe he made them feel bad, but he liked to think he wasn't guilting people into buying things).

* * *

><p>"Yo..do you guys clean CD's here?"<p>

"Oh! I didn't hear you come in," Roxas said, as he tucked his book under the counter. "Yeah, we do, hold on and I'll get the cleaner from the ba-oh."

Standing before him was a tall, lanky, olive-skinned (but still pale) redhead.

"A-Axel?"

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Not today, no, I'm pretty sure I'm not."

Roxas' brow furrowed at the statement as he noticed that no, this was definitely _not_ the redhead he'd assumed it to be, but a slightly older and mildly different one. Their voices, however, were practically identical. "Er, right—sorry. You look a lot like someone I used to-"

"Cut the crap, kid. I just want my goddamn CDs cleaned."

"Sorry, god. No need to be an ass," Roxas said, grabbing the CD cleaner and holding a hand out.

The redhead handed him a CD that was clearly not legit, and Roxas frowned.

"I'm sorry, sir, I'm not allowed to clean pirated shit."

"It's not even-whatever, I'll do it myself, yo."

Roxas hissed as the redhead got near the desk, holding his shoe above his head, ready to attack. "Get out of my store, _now._"

"What the hell are you going to do? Hit me with your shoe?"

"Yes."

The redhead guffawed. "Oh man...you're alright, kid. What's your name, yo?"

Roxas blinked, and pointed to his name-tag, which clearly stated in bold black letters, _Roxas_.

"Oh. Well... the name's Reno." The redhead said as he opened the door.

"Wait!"

Reno raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, kid?"

Roxas held his hand open. "You're Axel's brother, aren't you?"

Reno narrowed his eyes. "Who wants to know?"

"The guy he screwed for some odd years?"

Reno snorted. "Yeah, okay. Like I'm going to believe that."

"You have a kid. I bitched Axel out because the mom thought it was his. He told me he had an older brother, and that it was probably yours. Just...so you know."

Reno blinked. "Oh."

"She was really mad...but that was months ago, so...she's probably rabid by now..." Roxas pressed the button and listened to the CD cleaner whirr. "Do you ever talk to him?"

"Who?"

"Axel."

"Oh...sometimes. Once a month or so-you want me to say something?"

Roxas bit his lip. "No...I don't think so...just...don't tell him you saw me, alright? I've hurt him enough, I think..."

"Why do you say that, yo?"

Roxas glanced at the redhead. "Because I really fucked up, and I don't think he'd appreciate the fact that I still exist."

"No...he'd probably find it hilarious that the kid who ran away from him now works in a music store selling his shit," Reno said, shrugging. "I won't mention it to him, yo."

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>Reno came by the store once a week, usually bearing some news of Axel's life that he thought Roxas would find interesting- Axel fell off the stage, Axel's pants fell off during a meet-and-greet, Axel got chased by rabid fan girls, the usual-and occasionally took the blond out for pizza.<p>

Roxas had his suspicions about the redhead's motives, but was reassured slightly by the white-gold band around the older man's ring finger.

"Hey, is your husband-is he nice?"

Reno blinked and glanced at the boy in the passenger seat of his car. "Well, I guess. In his own way-why do you ask?"

"I'd like to meet him one day."

Reno snorted. "Fat chance. He's too antisocial to deal with some little shrimp who works at the music store, yo."

"Oh."

"Hey, but listen, when you and my little brother get over yourselves and have a cheesy, mushy, chick-flick worthy reunion, you can invite him to the wedding."

Roxas snorted. "Fat chance...your brother hates me."

Reno rolled his eyes. "That's why he cries himself to sleep alone in his room every night wishing you didn't leave and blaming himself."

"As if."

"You really underestimate Axel's sensitivity, Blondie."

"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

"I don't care, yo. You got blond hair, don'tcha, Blondie? Exactly," Reno said, as he parked the car on the side of the road. "Now I kept my promise-didn't tell my bro about meeting ya, and now _you're_ gonna do me a solid, got it?"

"Um...sure? What do I have to do?"

Reno pulled out his phone, and dialed the number. "Talk to him, Blondie"

Roxas scowled and made to end the call-and then Reno pulled out a gun.

"Now, now. I'd hate to have to clean your pretty little brain out of my car seats, yo."


	20. Deja Vu, I love you

_This crazy bastard is going to shoot me._

_ I am going to die._

* * *

><p>Axel picked up his phone and was greeted by the hysteric laugh-cry of "Oh my god please don't shoot me." The redhead glanced at the phone to confirm that yes, this was in fact his brother's phone calling him.<p>

"Um...Reno?"

"," came the hysterical reply that Axel was completely certain was _not_ his elder brother.

"Who is this, why do you have Reno's phone, and who's going to shoot you?"

"It's Roxas, and he's going to shoot me and I'm scared and we're in his car and he's got a gun and ."

Axel dropped his phone.

"NO AXEL DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE OH GOD!"

"Er...sorry, I uh, dropped my phone...what's going on?"

"Your brother. Is going to. Shoot me. In the head."

"How do you-never mind. Why is he going to shoot you in the head?"

"Achskjefdnbkbrstews."

"Um..?"

_"haha, oh my god, what the fuck was that, yo?"_

_ "I sneezed, now will you quit waving that thing around?"_

_ "Yeah, yeah, sure."_

"Hey, Ax?" It was Reno, now.

"What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, really, but I've been in contact with Blondie here for a couple months now and he told me not to tell you-but shit, you guys were both so damn miserable I had to fix this shit...listen, tomorrow at six, Blondie here is going to go back to Radiant Garden, and you two are gonna go be gross fucks, alright?"

_"Wh-hey! I never agreed to that! I have to work tomorrow!"_

"He doesn't want to see me, Reno. Butt out."

"He does, bro. He's missed you so much that every time your music plays on the radio he starts sobbing-snot-nosed brat-and since he works in the music store selling that shit...the kid's gonna die from crying."

_"Hey! I am not! Give me the phone, fat ass!"_

_ "You're just gonna try and hang up-now let the adults talk, kid. Go-go play in the backseat, yo."_

_ "Don't treat me like a kid!"_

_ "What're you going to-ow! Shit! Stop hitting me, yo!"_

_ "I'll stop hitting you when you give me the goddamn phone!"_

_ "Ow, shit...what do you have in there, nails?" _

Axel heard shuffling and Roxas' voice got louder. _"Yes." _There was more shuffling. "Um...hi."

"Er, hi..."

"I'm sorry."

Axel bit his lip. _Don't fall for it, Axel. Don't do it. _ "I love you." _Shit._

"I-um...you shouldn't."

"Are you...seeing anyone?"

"No...are you?"

"I wouldn't even if I could."

"Wha-shit, did you go blind? I _told_ you not to put that shit in your eyes, didn't I-?"

"No...I'm not blind."

Axel could hear the frown in the blond's voice. "I'm sorry, Axel...I'm stupid."

"No...you're not. I'm just...not good enough, am I?"

"Shit...Don't cry!"

"I'm not-fuck, I'm sorry, I'll just-"

"I'm so sorry I left, I really fucked up, I'm so sorry, please don't hate me..."

"I could never hate you, Rox..."

"You-you're too good for me, Axel."

Axel wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Then why did you leave?"

"Because I'm stupid."

"No, you aren't, dipshit."

"You just-never mind..is it okay if I..."

"You can go, that's fine. It's not like you cared before."

"Axel, I-"

"Save it, Roxy. I know you don't mean it."

"But..."

"No buts, Roxas. I understand. You and me...won't ever work again, will it? You're just too goddamned good for me, aren't you?"

"No, Axel-"

"Did you ever even love me?"

"I always loved you, Axel...I always will. I promise."

"Then why the fuck did you leave me?"

"I fucked up."

_"Yeah you did, dumbshit._"

"Shut up, Reno."

"_He said to shut up, Reno." _

_ "I heard him."_

"Roxas... I was going to propose to you."

"You...were?"

"Yeah...I was going to do it that night, even..."

"I'm a horrible person."

"No...I don't blame you."

"You should."

"Roxas...I... please come back," he said, rubbing his forehead and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just...come back, and we'll...talk. And then you can...choose what you want to do. Okay?"

"I-okay. I'm sorry."

"I'll...see you later."

"...yeah."

* * *

><p>Roxas was nervous. That was normal.<p>

The crying so hard that he crawled behind the trashcan at the train station to hide part?

Not so much.

"Roxas?"

The blond glanced up, grabbing his shoe for good measure.

"Fancy meeting you here...again."

Roxas stared at the man with the eye-patch with wide eyes and chucked his shoe at his face.

"Hey, Axel? I think I found him..."

"Fucking hell, why does he always wind up here?"

"Good question...why _do_ you always wind up there, Blondie?"

Roxas didn't reply as he was pulled by the arm onto his feet. Green eyes met his as hands wiped away his tears.

"Hello, sunshine. The earth says hello," Axel said, smiling.

Roxas smiled, and threw himself into the redhead's chest, soaking in the familiar feeling of warmth enveloping him before it would inevitably shun him.

"Hey, Ax, I think it likes you," Xigbar said, snorting as he prodded at the blond.

"Let him alone, Xigbar. He's clearly scared shitless by your ugly-ass face."

"My face is _not_ ugly!"

Axel raised an eyebrow, but let it go as he pried the blond off of him and led him away. Roxas wasn't really paying attention to where they were going, just absentmindedly following him as he wiped his face on his sleeve, so he was mildly surprised to have ice cream shoved into his hand.

He glanced up at Axel and realized that they were at a park, sitting on a bench. "Eat up, kid."

Roxas frowned. "I'm not a kid."

Axel rolled his eyes and shoved the sea-salt ice cream into the blond's mouth. "You'll eat it and you'll _like _ it, Roxas."

Roxas swallowed the chunk of ice cream he was forced to take and eyed the redhead. "If your method of revenge is shoving frozen dairy treats into my mouth, it's not going to work out so well, Axel."

The redhead frowned. "I could shove _other_ things into your mouth."

"But you wouldn't."

Axel shrugged, and looked away.

"Hey..."

Axel's head turned to him, and Roxas acted quickly, grabbing the redhead's jaw and shoving the treat into his mouth.

Roxas smirked in triumph as the redhead ate the abuse. "You need it more than me, ya twig."

Axel scowled. "I'll probably just puke it back up, you know."

Roxas' face fell. "Why would you do that?"

He shrugged.

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"God, please tell me you're not bulimic...you're too damn scrawny, Axel, and that's just horrible for your esophagus and your enamel-"

"I'm not bulimic. I just don't handle food well anymore."

Roxas frowned. "You should really get that checked out, Ax..."

He shrugged again. "It happens. It's not a big deal."

"Axel... it's not healthy."

"Nothing about me is healthy, Roxas."

"Axel..."

"I'm hopelessly in love with some kid who doesn't even give enough shits to stay around, or hell, call me, for eight goddamn months," he said, throwing his arms up. "And it makes me so fucking depressed I can't even eat, so I just sit in my room because I'm too weak to fucking move, and they hook me up to an IV so I don't fucking die."

"Axel...I'm sorry. I...didn't know."

"And you just don't get it, do you?"

"I...guess I don't."

"Fuck, Roxas, you drive me _crazy._ Do you know how worried I was? I fucking _threw Zexion across the room_ when you left!"

Roxas winced. Poor Zexion.

"And then I finally start to get over you and you call me-"

"He had a gun!"

"-And I just fall right back to where I was. So please, Roxas, make up your mind-are you going to stay, or are you going to leave and never come back?"

"I-"

"Think about it, because once you chose I'm not going to let you change your mind, Roxas."

Roxas bit his lip. "Axel...what will you do if I say no?"

"Are you saying no?"

"No-I just...want you to be okay."

"I won't be okay without you, Roxas."

Roxas frowned and looked at his hands. _Every musical legend dies at twenty-seven. Axel's twenty-seven. He knows that. He'll probably become a legend. _Roxas glanced at the redhead. "You're going to kill yourself, aren't you?"

Axel looked away. "No."

"You're lying. Axel... don't kill yourself over me, god..."

"Well...if you won't have me, what good am I?"

"Axel...you're the reason so many people are happy today. Without you...so many people would be sad. Don't be stupid."

"I _am_ stupid."

"No, you're not. You're beautiful and intelligent and funny and I'm so lucky to have ever met you, to have ever loved and been loved by you...and if you died...I probably would, too."

Axel snorted.

"Don't...don't make fun of me! I'm trying to be romantic, here!"

"You're too young to say shit like that, Roxas."

"Axel. You're like... three years older than me. I really don't think you can say that sort of thing."

"You shouldn't throw your life away."

Roxas smacked the redhead. "Don't tell me what to do!"

"Don't fucking hit me!"

"I'll fucking hit you if I want to fucking hit you, boy!"

"Bitch, you ain't tough!"

"Well I sure as hell can beat your scrawny little ass, Axel!"

Axel shoved him.

Roxas shoved back.

"Don't shove me!"

"You shoved me first, dipshit!"

"Hey! Break it up, you two!"

Roxas and Axel froze. "Jesus, look at us. What the fuck? What are we doing?"

"Fighting, apparently."

"I know that-but why? I mean, god... this is so stupid. Look, Axel, I'm fucking sorry, okay? Don't kill yourself over me, and I won't kill myself over you, and we can all be one big ass happy family."

"I can't be happy without you."

"Well you don't fucking have to, dipshit, because I'm not going anywhere."

Axel was about to make a retort when what the blond said hit him and he bit his tongue. "What?"

"God, are you stupid? I said, _I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere." _

Axel blinked. "What?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and pulled the redhead down to his level, pressing his lips against the other man's hungrily. He pushed him away. "Got it?"

Axel smirked. "I think so, but maybe you should go over that again..."

"Fuck you," Roxas said, hitting the redhead in the arm playfully. "So are we okay?"

"...you're staying, then?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah... I think we'll be okay."

"Good. Now...I say we elope. Sound good?"

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Yes? No?"

"Roxas... you do know that eloping doesn't just mean running away and screwing, right? That's...ya know...commitment."

"I'm aware. I mean-if you don't want to, that's cool-."

"Roxas...calm your tits."

"Calm my...Axel, I don't _have_ tits."

"...Right."

"Oh my god. Seriously? Are you implying that I'm fat?"

"Wh-no! You're not-this is a trap, isn't it?"

Roxas smiled. "Maybe."

"Calm your tits."

Roxas scowled, and shoved the redhead's hand under his shirt. "I. Do not. Have. Tits."

Axel smiled. "I missed your tits, Roxas."

"Oh my god!" Roxas said, throwing up his arms in exasperation. "You're _gay._ You don't even _like_ tits, Axel!"

"No, no, I like _your_ tits, Roxas."

"I don't have any!"

Axel grinned. "Exactly."

"I give up."

* * *

><p>AN: andddd that's a wrap, I think.

You guys can hate me now. :]


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